Less than half a year after announcing the end of her political career, former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is weighing a new Knesset bid – if a broad left-wing bloc is formed for the September elections.
In February, Livni announced that she would not run in the April 9th election, adding that she would be leaving politics after then-Labor chief Avi Gabbay ended his party’s alliance with Livni’s Hatnuah faction.
“There should have been a single bloc to bring a political revolution, but that didn’t happen,” Livni said as she announced her departure from politics. “I worked to make a [left-wing] alliance. This time, it didn’t happen.”
"I'm leaving politics, but I won't let our dream of peace disappear from Israel."
Five months later, however, Livni is already considering a return to politics – under one condition.
While Livni has rejected overtures from both the Labor party’s new chairman, Amir Peretz, and Ehud Barak, who recently formed the new Democratic Israel party, she has indicated she may run for the Knesset again if a broad left-wing ticket is formed, Haaretz reported.
Such a left-wing alliance would likely include both Labor, the Democratic Israel party, and Livni’s own Hatnuah faction.
Last week, a poll by Maagar Mohot found that a grand alliance of left-wing parties, including Labor, Democratic Israel, and the far-left Meretz faction, would net 19 seats in the next election.