Livni clears hurdle on track to PM's post

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday emerged a surprise winner in the tight race to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the leader of the country's ruling party.

Her first job, she said, would be turning immediately to the task of trying to cobble together a new government.

Livni will become Israel's second woman prime minister if she succeeds in keeping the ruling coalition intact or putting together a new one.