00:45AM IL: Kadima leader Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, presumably the victor in the election, has decided to wait for Netanyahu to complete his address, not wishing to split the nationwide media coverage of the event.

1:22AM IL: The Kadima MKs and ministers take the stage first, the first 30 on the party lineup. Livni greeted in party headquarters with a standing ovation after postponing her address earlier to listen to remarks from Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

While there are large photos of Livni and party founder Ariel Sharon, conspicuously absent is Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the current Kadima prime minister, nor are there any photos of him visible in the party headquarters.

1:29AM IL: Tzipi Livni makes her entrance. She is received with a standing ovation, as the next prime minister of Israel.

She begins her address visibly emotional, holding back the tears as the crowd continues to cheer the victory.

Good evening. A number of months ago, I came to the president of Israel and explained the nation should go to elections – and today, the nation chose Kadima. Friends, MKs and ministers, new MKs, activists, I was your partner in the establishment of Kadima. I will never forget the decisions of our first leader, Arik Sharon, who is loved by all until he fell and we are miss him dearly. We did it and established the party out a national responsibility to offer a different political path, to say no to refusal to every plan and political solution on the table — to forge a new path to actualize our right to continue as a democratic Jewish state.

Kadima was established. We left other parties because we had enough, supported by the people, shunning the petty issues and politics of yesteryear. We established the party with the vision of incorporating our Jewish values and the democratic society, which is losing the camp that unites us. Kadima changed the face of politics, no longer right and left but a center with an ideology that unites rather than divides.

One again tonight I hear about ‘camps’ again, the national camp and so forth. When I joined politics, the battles were fierce. Eretz Yisrael does not belong to the right just as the peace does not belong to the left. Just as the job of preserving the Jewish character of the state is the job of all of us. I believe as we remain committed to these ideals, other parties too share this vision, in line with the values on which Kadima was built – part of the vision of hope that has finally reached this nation.

Since being elected as the party leader, I have been working towards achieving these goals, realizing the difficult path, the division in the home and the extremists in the Muslim world. Despite the hate and wars, we continue searching for a ray of hope towards dialogue and peace… we say that we have the strength to find this path and to implement it.

Today, one by one, you came out and voted. Before the election, I met them along the way, those who were with me with a heart full of hope, with the desire that together, we can build a better tomorrow. I met parents who were holding infants on their laps while waving Israeli flags as you are doing now, our flag, and they give me their infants, not for the photo op, but to obtain a promise for the future of the infant. You have no idea just how awesome this is for me. The cynicism was placed aside and they decided to act, to come out today in the rain and cast a ballot, not out of despair or fear, but full of hope and faith, to vote for a new tomorrow, a responsibility which rests on our shoulders to establish a new government under our leadership.

We won today, earning the faith of the public, a public made up of all those who came out and voted for us and the results are clear to all, we won.

Kadima’s path is not a divisive one, but towards unity and therefore, I turn to Binyamin Netanyahu (boos from crowd) and told him that prior to the election I asked you to join my ranks. You refused then, and you said the nation must decide. The nation did decide today, Kadima!

Therefore, today, that which remains is to do the right thing and honor the choice of the voter, to do what is correct for the people and the nation, in the face of all the challenges, and join a national unity coalition government headed by Kadima, from left-to-right.

We saw the voter’s decision tonight, but we must look back and learn from the past, and therefore, I will support a change in government towards increased future governmental stability.

A few words of thanks to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who phoned to congratulate us tonight. Together we faced some very difficult challenges and Kadima wishes to thank the outgoing prime minister. To my partners in the party, it has been difficult, but we succeeded. In Kadima we say ‘the nation first, then the party and I am last’ and this is how it has been in day-to-day practice.

Thanks to all….

A final word regarding Gilad Shalit. As one who sent the soldier to defend us, I remain committed and obligated to his return, like all the cabinet ministers, as is our responsibility.

A final note, the public has spoken and I hope this will dictate the establishment of the government because nothing else will represent the voice of the nation. Therefore, I permit myself to say a word to Naftali (husband). 25 years ago I left an place (Mossad) where I thought I could contribute the most to the State of Israel, not for you but for us, and today, I am in a place where I can truly do the most, and that is all on your merit.

It’s a great day for Am Yisrael and we will form a coalition government and you can smile when the government is a reality.

Comment: Livni hoped to enjoy a Barak Obama victory but perhaps, emerged Al Gore.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)