Continue reading the main story

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 666.

KADIMA

Formed in November 2005 by then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Kadima (Forward) was intended as a centrist alternative to existing parties. Mr Sharon had broken away from Likud after his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip meant he lost the support of its members. Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum joined him in Kadima, including Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni from Likud and Shimon Peres from Labour. At the time the new party filled a political vacuum - the Israeli left had been weakened by the failure of the Camp David peace talks and the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, and Likud did not accept the international consensus around a two-state solution. The Kadima platform promised to combine a Zionist ideology with bold moves to solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

• Leader: Shaul Mofaz
• Founded: 2005
• Politics: centrist Zionist
• Number of members in 18th Knesset: 21
• Website: http://www.kadima.org.il/

• Kadima home page

At the end of 2005, Mr Olmert took over Kadima after Mr Sharon suffered a series of strokes that left him in a permanent coma. It went on to win the 2006 election with 29 of 120 Knesset seats. However many speculated it could have won more if Mr Sharon, a powerful personality, had been able to stay at the helm. During his time in office Mr Olmert was criticised for the failures of the 2006 Lebanon War and 2008-9 Gaza war. However he pushed peace negotiations with the Palestinians, with Tzipi Livni acting as chief negotiator, and later claimed that he went further than any other Israeli leader in a deal that he offered. Mr Olmert stepped down as leader of Kadima in late 2008 amid accusations of corruption. Ms Livni replaced him.

In early general elections in February 2009, Kadima won the greatest number of seats - one more than Likud - but Ms Livni proved unable to form a new coalition government. Benjamin Netanyahu went on to head the next coalition.

While she had been one of Israel's most popular politicians, Ms Livni faced heavy criticism for what was seen as her ineffective term as opposition leader. In March 2012, Kadima members voted to replace her with the former defence minister and army chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz. Meanwhile Mr Mofaz took the surprising decision to join the Likud-led government in May only to leave two months afterwards in a dispute over military conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews. Heading into this poll, the party appears relatively weak, trailing around the 2% threshold, and has seen several well-known members leave its ranks.