Livni casts her vote
Photo: Dana Kopel
Kadima members elect Knesset roster
Ruling party's 80,000 registered voters choose their representatives in 18th Knesset. 'We'll elect a winning team,' Chairwoman Livni says
After Labor and Likud, it's the ruling party's time to elect its list of representatives: Some 80,000 registered Kadima
members began choosing the party's roster for the 18th Knesset on Wednesday morning.
Some 600 touch screen were placed in 95 polling stations across the country. The stations opened at 10 am, and the party members will be able to exercise their right to vote until midnight.
Chairwoman Tzipi Livni cast her ballot at a Tel Aviv voting station and said, "We will elect a winning list.
In spite of the fiasco experienced by the other two parties with the computerized voting system, Kadima officials decided eventually not to return to the old, familiar ballots and to rely on the technology of Malam Systems – the same company which provided computerized voting services to the Likud.
Opinion
Eitan Haber
Likud’s rightist Knesset list gives hope to rivals ahead of upcoming general elections
If there are no malfunctions, the results will be released shortly after the end of the vote, and the election campaign will officially begin. The general Knesset elections will be held on February 10.
"Today Kadima will determine its list, and this is the list we'll take with us to the elections,"
Livni told Ynet.
"I believe all of Kadima's registered voters understand that beyond the head-to-head battle between me and (Likud Chairman Benjamin) Netanyahu, people vote through the ballot. So the list should be composed of good people."
The foreign minister estimated that the current Knesset roster would not change dramatically, and conveyed a relaxing message to senior Kadima officials who fear they may be pushed back on the list.
"Kadima has a good base," Livni stressed. "In total we have a good list and the candidates in the primaries are perfectly fine. As far as I'm concerned, each person's slot on the list is a marginal issue."
Livni, who did add "stars" to her party like the Likud did, took advantage of the situation to scorn Netanyahu.
"We're not facing the danger of the Likud chairman, who was photographed with all kinds of nice people he thought would provide him with a certificate of good character, and ended up with the same old Likud. However, people will eventually look at the entire list, and Kadima's roster will be better than that of the Likud."
