Also read: Ruling Kadima Party votes to replace Olmert

Watch Tzipi Livni's interview on France 24  (May 2008)

Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni was elected Wednesday to the helm of the Kadima party, narrowly beating opponent Shaul Mofaz, by 43.1% to 42%. Livni’s victory renders her the presumptive successor to the post of prime minister. But her ultimate fate depends on forming a coalition government within 42 days. If she fails, her fate will be decided by a general election that polls say she would lose to former PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Some analysts are already worried that she’s in over her head. Joav Toker, Professor at the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy, said on FRANCE 24’s 'Top Story', “She may be prime minister, but if I had to gamble on her real experience for leading the government over significant time over a significant agenda, her chances are one in three.”

Presumed PM does not mean real PM

Fifty-year-old Livni’s victory could hardly have come at a worse time in the Kadima party history. Her predecessor, Ehud Olmert, has been beset with demands for his resignation, almost since he first took office, for what was considered a gross mishandling of the Second Lebanese War in 2006. More recently, Olmert was saddled with allegations of corruption, creating much unwelcome press for the party.

Analysts also point out that it is not a given that Livni’s standing as presumptive PM will mean that she will actually get the job. All hangs on her ability to find consensus within a 12-party system.

Her political savvy will not help her much, says Toker: “Strange as it may seem, being the foreign minister of Israel is much easier than dealing with your counterparts in the Knesset. She has to transform her Kadima victory into an overall victory.”

“Mrs. Clean” is also "Mrs. Mossad"

Tzipi Livni’s uncorrupt political record, particularly compared to that of Olmert, has given rise to the nickname “Mrs. Clean.”

Yet, strangely, one of the most whispered-about aspects of her background is her two-year service in the Israeli secret service, the Mossad.

The organization has a real or perceived reputation for hunting down and killing enemies of the Israeli state. But, says Toker, Livni most likely held a desk job and was not involved in assassinations.

So how is “Mrs. Clean” compatible with the "La Femme Nikita" popular image?

According to Toker, there is no contradiction. “A history of being in the Mossad is not the equivalent of a US Senate candidate having a history of working for the CIA. Mossad has a positive connotation. What they do is secret, and the press respects that.”

Whether as Mrs. Clean or as former Mossad agent, one of the most important questions hovering over any potential PM is how they will handle the Palestinian issue. A subject on which Toker does not venture a stance, saying, “The Middle East has too many surprises.”

Living in Golda Meir’s shadow

Even before Tzipi Livni’s ascendance to the helm of the Knesset party became a concrete matter, comparisons with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir were inevitable. Both women previously served as foreign minister; both have reputations for being stubborn and iron-fisted, and both have the dubious distinction of being referred to in the press by their given names.

But Livni has tried to distance herself from the Meir comparison, telling the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot that she “certainly did not admire Golda.”