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Livni to Haaretz: I will not form government at any price
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Shaul Mofaz, Tzipi Livni 

Tzipi Livni will try to form a new government as quickly as possible if she wins today's Kadima leadership primary, but "not at any price," the foreign minister told Haaretz Tuesday.

Livni sounded confident that she would beat her chief rival, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, in the first round. "I have no doubt I'm going to win," she said. "If I didn't think I would win, I wouldn't be running at all.

"My feeling [of confidence] doesn't come from the polls. It isn't mathematics," she continued. "I know I will win because of the responses I get from people I meet throughout the country. People who I don't even know have come and volunteered to help, just because they think I need
t
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o head Kadima and become prime minister."

Asked whether she thinks Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ought to declare himself temporarily incapacitated after the primary - which would enable the new Kadima leader to replace him immediately, rather than only after forming a new government - Livni said: "After the primary, Olmert will resign, as he promised. After that, we shouldn't monkey around. It is necessary to form a new government as quickly as possible."

Livni said she plans to form the same coalition Olmert has, comprising Labor, the Pensioners and Shas. "There's no reason for anything to change," she said. "They have been in the government thus far, and they will continue to be. There is also no reason to change the [coalition] guidelines."

Asked about Shas' demand for an increase in child allowances and Labor's demand that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann be replaced, Livni said she did not intend to engage in horse-trading. "I want to form a new government quickly, but nothing will be 'at any price,'" she said.

Livni visited Tuesday her campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv to meet with her activists. Some 700 volunteers will be working for her on election day, and each has been charged with bringing at least 20 voters to the polls.

A few months ago, it would have been hard to imagine Livni engaging in this type of politics. Now, she speaks by phone with virtually every key activist. "Geula, thanks for everything," she told one. "Now, we just need to make a final push."

The primary is attracting considerable attention from overseas, as many in the international community would like Livni to defeat the more hawkish Mofaz. Livni said Palestinian officials have also expressed interest in the outcome.

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