Labor party secretary Eitan Cabel warned Friday morning that his party is ready to go to the polls if Kadima party chairwoman Tzipi Livni does not meet its conditions for joining a new government coalition that she is attempting to form. Knesset member Cabel said that Livni must agree to let a new coalition survive until the next scheduled elections in two years and added that negotiations are not taking place at the moment.
Cabel wants a change in the budget to meet the party's demands for social spending programs. Labor also demands that its chairman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is not an MK, remain in a central position. Analysts have suggested that Foreign Minister Livni might want to replace Barak with Shaul Mofaz, who lost to her in the Kadima leadership election last week. Cabel echoed Barak, who also said on Thursday night that Labor wants the new government to assist the elderly and university students, and insists on equal involvement in the diplomatic process. In addition, Labor opposes the reforms proposed by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, a Kadima party appointment.
Barak rejected criticism of his management of Labor. Fellow Labor member and MK Avishai Braverman accused Barak earlier Thursday of sending mixed messages regarding Labor's willingness to join a coalition led Livni. “You send one person who speaks in your name and says he's in favor, and another who says the opposite,” Braverman accused. Braverman called on Barak to let the Labor party “speak with one voice.” Several members of the kibbutz movement's branch of Labor have issued similar criticism of Barak's recent behavior.
Mofaz met with hundreds of his supporters on Thursday night and reassured them that he would remain an active member of Kadima. Despite his announcement last week that he was not going to serve in the cabinet in the new government, he said “I have not left anything. I am in Kadima and will stay in Kadima."
Mofaz downplayed the dramatic announcement, and said he had not yet decided whether to take an extended leave from politics or to be satisfied with a two-week vacation that he began last week. He noted that during his time off he has remained Transportation and Road Safety Minister.