Israel's Largest Party to Chose Leader Israel's largest but stumbling party will choose a leader between an incumbent who once led negotiations with the Palestinians and a former defense chief. Tuesday's race between current Kadima Party chief Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz is expected to be closely fought. They also ran against each other in Kadima's last leadership contest in 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second right, chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Gali Tibbon, Pool) Close Kadima governed from 2006 to early 2009 but its fortunes have waned since the February 2009 national elections that brought Benjamin Netanyahu to power. At the time, Kadima won the most parliament seats, 28 of 120, but Livni couldn't put together a governing coalition and Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, was given the task. Kadima was relegated to the opposition. Polls show it winning just a dozen seats if elections were to be held today.