Though the President of Israel has always entrusted the forming of a government in the hands of the largest party, Kadima leaders fear that they may win the election - and yet be deprived of the opportunity to lead the government.
This could happen if Labor and Likud - which, polls show, will be the next two largest parties after Kadima - join forces and refuse to join a Kadima-led coalition. The President would then be left with no choice but to ask Labor or Likud to form the government. They might then agree to a rotation or other agreement to join forces and leave Kadima out.
The two parties would have to overcome the long and bitter enmity between their two leaders, Binyamin Netanyahu of the Likud and Amir Peretz of Labor. The two men clashed often in recent years over economic issues, when Netanyahu was Finance Minister and Peretz headed the nationwide Histadrut Labor Union. Netanyahu believes in a free-market economy, while Peretz is a self-styled "social democrat."
In fact, Peretz says that an alliance and rotation agreement between the two parties is totally out of the question. "I had a chance to be Prime Minister [last November]," Peretz says, "when Sharon formed Kadima and left the government without a majority - but I did not want to play these games."
"To think of a coalition between myself and Bibi [Netanyahu] requires great imagination," Peretz said. "There is no chance. There is a great chasm between us. He is a right-wing extremist both politically and economically... I will bring social justice and peace."
The Likud has been more welcoming of the idea. Specifically, ex-Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that the Likud would invite Labor into a coalition partnership if it [the Likud] wins the election.
In any event, Kadima is taking no chances. Chaim Ramon, one of three Labor MKs who joined Kadima, will head the team charged with thwarting the initiative. "The staff will formulate a position and a direct appeal to Likud and Labor voters," Kadima announced, "with the goal of exposing the scheme by Bibi and Peretz of stealing the regime."
In other election news:
* Meretz has asked Election Committee head Judge Dorit Beinish to disqualify an election propaganda campaign of the National Union/National Religious Party. The campaign is directed specifically at soldiers, and its flyers state, "While you're doing guard duty, the Likud and Kadima are guarding their own Knesset seats." Meretz says that election propaganda that is directed only at soldiers is against the law.
* Shinui, the anti-religious party that received 15 Knesset seats in the last election but of whom only two remain - the others joined different parties - has come out against Shaarei Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
The hospital, which operates according to Halakhic [Jewish legal] norms, refuses to administer in-vitro fertility treatment to a Jewish couple that was not permitted to be married by the Rabbinate. Shinui claims that the hospital "receives funding from the State of Israel" and "must not be a branch of the Chief Rabbinate [and must] stop discriminating between Israelis."
Shaarei Zedek Medical Center clarified to Arutz-7 that it is a non-profit association that does not receive any government funding.
* Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has signed the charter of the "Green Light" association for the war against traffic accidents. "The Likud will allocate 500 million shekels a year in this struggle," Netanyahu said today. "Traffic accidents are not a Divine decree, but are rather an earthly decree that can be fought."