Politics of Israel Gil in a 67-seat coalition. In November 2006, Yisrael Beiteinu (11 seats) also joined the government, but departed from the coalition in January 2008. Faced with internal opposition due to mounting corruption charges, Olmert announced that he would not seek reelection in the next elections held in February 2009. Tzipi Livni won the September 2008 Kadima leadership elections, but failed to form a new coalition government. On 31 March 2009 the Knesset approved the appointment of Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister, despite Kadima having won slightly more votes than Netanyahu's Likud. Netanyahu's government took office the following day, 1 April
Tzipi Livni the UN Security Council was influenced by his talks with Livni and former president Shimon Peres, who said such a move could serve the political interests of those opposing the peace process. After the dissolution of the Knesset in December 2014, Labor leader Isaac Herzog and Livni announced a joint slate between Labor and Hatnuah, called the Zionist Union, to contest the 2015 elections in an effort to keep Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party, from securing a fourth term as prime minister. They proposed to share the role of prime minister (an arrangement known in the Knesset as rotation)