JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s foreign minister declared victory today in a tight race to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as the head of the governing party, getting a chance to be the country’s first female leader in 34 years.

Tzipi Livni, 50, said she would immediately turn to the task of trying to cobble together a new government.

“The national responsibility (bestowed) by the public brings me to approach this job with great awe,” Livni said.

Official results showed Livni winning by a 1.1 percentage point margin in the Kadima Party primary elections — a far narrower victory than the polls had predicted.

Livni, a political moderate, barely edged out hawkish rival Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister, in a contest that could have far-reaching implications for peacemaking with the Palestinians and Syria.