Kadima's collapse continues as Olmert stays away

The collapse of the Kadima party continued on Wednesday and Thursday as three of its top Knesset members, Dalia Itzik, Zeev Bielski and Ronnie Bar-On, announced that they were quitting politics.

Itzik and Bar-On had been waiting for word from former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on whether he would return to the party and take over its leadership from Shaul Mofaz. The departure of the three veteran MKs signals that Olmert is not intending to lead Kadima.

Two other Kadima MKs who announced on Wednesday that they would not run in the coming Knesset elections were Yaakov Edri and Marina Solodkin.

Itzik, who has served as an MK for the past two decades and was Knesset speaker in 2006-2009, said on Wednesday that she had decided "to take a break from public life."

"In recent months, I tried with hard work and great effort to connect and unify forces in the [centrist] bloc, but unfortunately I failed," Itzik said, noting that she had hoped that former Olmert would return to politics.

"It was a great honor to serve in senior roles in Israel," Itzik said. "I love the country and I will continue to monitor events closely."

Kadima sources said that Itzik decided to leave politics after party leader Shaul Mofaz did not place her in the top five of Kadima's candidate list for the Jan. 22 elections.

There was surprise in Kadima with Bar-On's departure. Bar-On was first elected to the Knesset in 2003 and served as finance minister in Olmert's government. He is the current head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Mofaz had promised Bar-On a high spot on the Kadima list.

Bielski, who sits on Bar-On's committee, was recently placed fourth on the party's candidate list for the Jan. 22 Knesset elections. But with polls showing the party all but being wiped off the political map, Bielski informed Mofaz Wednesday that he was leaving national politics. Before joining the Knesset four years ago, Bielski was the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the mayor of Raanana.

Earlier this week, seven Kadima MKs officially split from the party to join Tzipi Livni's new Hatnuah party.

In the most recent Knesset election in 2009, Kadima won more seats (28) than any other party. However, most polls show that Kadima will not receive enough votes in the coming election to pass the threshold to be represented in the 19th Knesset.

Despite these bleak poll numbers, Kadima's steering committee finalized the party's list on Wednesday. Mofaz is followed on the list by Israel Hasson and Yohanan Plesner. Other names on the list include Ronit Tirosh, Shai Hermesh, Yuval Zellner and Doron Avital.

"We are going into the election with an experienced, responsible and diverse list, with which we will ask for the public's trust," Mofaz said.

Parties have until 10 p.m. Thursday to submit their finalized candidate lists to the Central Elections Committee.

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