Kadima leadership candidate Transportation and Road Safety Minister Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) will be the loser regardless of the outcome of the party elections Wednesday because he mentioned his Sephardic background, Nahum Barnea wrote in Yediot Acharonot. "He had the opportunity to be the first candidate for Prime Minister of Middle Eastern origin who did not turn ethnicity into a banner. He lost that chance," Barnea wrote.
Maariv's Shalom Yerushalmi opined that the two leading Kadima candidates have failed to show leadership because they are not bringing up issues that are meaningful. Dan Margalit wrote in Yisrael HaYom that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may not act in a statesmanlike manner and instead may remain in power for weeks or months until a new government is formed.