Olmert seeks to rejig Kadima rules to stay PM until elections

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is trying to make adjustments to the rules governing Kadima that would keep him in his post until the next elections for the Knesset, even if a different candidate wins the party's September primary.

Olmert is still unsure if he will be a candidate in the primary, according to a senior Kadima source who said Tuesday that "Olmert is considering not competing in the party primary." The source added that "those who want to be candidates say it clearly, and this has still not been heard from him."

As such, Olmert is trying to include a condition in the Kadima regulations that whoever wins in the primary will be the party's candidate for prime minister in the following parliamentary elections, leaving Olmert to complete his tenure in power. By this maneuver, Olmert is trying to block the creation of an alternative cabinet without him after the primary.

Olmert met Tuesday with the head of the Kadima Council, Meir Nitzan, to discuss the council meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The council will discuss issues including the adoption of the agreement with the Labor Party, Kadima's main coalition partner, under which Kadima will hold a primary on September 25.

Olmert will not participate in the meeting tomorrow, but he has broad support in the party council, most of whose members support him.

A senior Kadima source said yesterday that Olmert agreed with Nitzan that the change in the party regulations will include an article under which "the head of the party elected in the primary will be the Kadima candidate for the post of prime minister in the elections for the 18th Knesset, but the current prime minister will be able to continue in his post until the elections."

The implication is that the elected chairman of Kadima in the primary will not be able to establish an alternative government as long as Olmert is serving as prime minister.

But if the change in party regulations is approved, this may precipitate a move toward early elections because Labor chief Ehud Barak is demanding that Olmert be replaced after the Kadima primary.