Incumbent Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert has been forced by his party to agree to early party elections, following serious fraud allegations he is facing over allegedly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribe money from U.S. businessman Morris Talansky during his tenure as mayor of Jerusalem.

The race is now on between four main contenders. These include Transportation and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz; Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit; Public Security Minister and ex-head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency the Shabak or Shin Bet Avi Dichter; and last but by no means least the ever-popular and only female candidate, Tzipi Livni, the current Israeli foreign minister.

Currently negotiations are underway as to when exactly the primary will be held. Mofaz wants to hold it at the beginning of September, while Livni wants to hold it earlier.

The party affairs committee will also have to decide whether, after a new Kadima leader is elected, Olmert will be allowed to continue serving as prime minister until the general elections or will have to step down and make way for his replacement.

The party's regulations – which were specifically written for party founder ex-premier Ariel Sharon who remains in a coma on life support – do not provide guidelines on this issue, effectively making it almost impossible for the party chairman to be dismissed.

As Kadima enters, what for all intents and purposes is an election campaign, the hawkish Mofaz has been touring the Golan Heights and drumming up support from residents there who are reluctant to give up the territory in return for a peace treaty with Syria.

Mofaz, without even bothering to consult the Syrians, has stated categorically that "Syria was not currently ready for peace." The Iranian-born Mofaz has also caused a ruckus on the international scene by declaring that "an attack on Iran might be unavoidable."

This statement has forced the U.S. White House to quickly counter by saying that the United States would try to work out the situation with the Iranians diplomatically.

The ex-minister of defense is busy establishing himself as Kadima's right-wing representative while Livni stands for the left-wing in the party.

But while the heavyweights slug it out for the party's leadership, Israeli analysts have criticized the manner in which Kadima operates and questioned the future of the party, which was established by Sharon in 2005 when he broke away from Likud.

Kadima was originally established as a one-man party to fit the needs and desires of Sharon so he could basically do as he pleased. Sharon also made sure that any future members could only join on accepting his complete authority.

This ensured that even after Sharon fell into a coma his party was able win 29 seats in the Israeli Knesset or parliament, thereby becoming the largest party.

Furthermore, critics argue that Kadima lacks organizational structure and has no Israeli tradition, making it a "bubble party that arose from improvisations and is by definition transient," according to an Israeli daily.

"It united politicians from opposite ends of the spectrum, some of them nimble opportunists who, a moment before jumping on the bandwagon, were still considering joining rival parties," stated Ha'aretz.

"It seems more like a hasty assemblage of hacks who were gathered from far-flung places and whose sole interest is improving their own standing. The composition of its Knesset faction is unimpressive, and the same is true of some of its representatives in the cabinet," added the daily.

Critics have charged that the party is divorced from the principles of the mother party, or Likud, and is beset with a lack of harmony and power-stepping among its rank and file. Membership enrollment is hurried through with bulldozer-like transparency by dubious party hacks.

And it appears that the Israeli center, which was seeking a party to represent its desire for a pragmatic approach in regard to diplomatic issues, and a liberal and social approach vis-a-vis economic and social matters, is becoming further and further alienated from the party.

This is worrying development in regard to the peace process with the Palestinians and future negotiations with Israel's neighbors as the chances of more right-wing politicians such as Binyamin Netanyahu getting in and forming a coalition with the extremist ultra-orthodox parties increase accordingly in the absence of viable alternatives.

If Israelis are trapped in domestic political instability, attention to the peace process and negotiations with their Arab neighbors will take a back seat.