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Exit Polls Show Center-left Bloc Winning 63 Seats
TEL AVIV (Haaretz) — The election results showed center-left parties gaining a total of 63 seats, with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima winning 28 seats, Labor of Peretz did well with 20 seats, and the Arab parties nine to ten seats.
The Likud, which had hoped to block a center-left coalition, dropped to 11 seats in this election, far below the figures the party had hoped and a far cry from the 38 seats it won under Ariel Sharon in 2003.
Artists finishing a mural painting in Tel Aviv. Kadima leader Olmert on the right with a picture of his predecessor Sharon, with Peretz of Labor on the left.
TEL AVIV (Haaretz) — Exit polls released as polling stations closed at 10 P.M. Tuesday showed center-left parties gaining a total of between 62 and 66 seats.
The results, if accurate, could mean that the Likud would drop to Israel’s seventh largest party, with the Russian immigrant-dominated Yisrael Beiteinu becoming the fourth largest list in the 120-seat house with 12 seats.
The Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas surprises by winning 13 seats, meaning it could have passed the Likud in strength, and has become the third party in the new Knesset. The results also showed the right-wing National Union-NRP taking nine seats, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism six seats and Meretz at four.
In the largest surprise of the night, the Pensioners party was seen to win seven seats.
Likud shocked over poor showing and MK Eitan calls for investigative committee
The ink on the exit polls is not yet dry and the knives have already been drawn: With poll results showing a complete Likud collapse in the election, party officials are already preparing for the day after.
The Knesset faction Chairman, Gideon Sa’ar, admitted election results constitute a “very difficult blow”. “In fact, this is the most serious blow suffered by the Likud since its establishment. Our worldview is now in the minority in the country…we must realize we need to rebuild the Likud.”
Knesset Member Michael Eitan already spoke with a number of senior officials during the day and Ynet has learned that he plans to demand an internal investigative committee to examine how the party reached its current state.
● Kadima :: West Bank Pull-out in 2008 Secret EU Report & Rafah Border Open
● Juan Cole – Victory of Hamas
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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DIMONA, Israel (Manila Bulletin) March 28 — Speaking to AFP in the grim Negev desert town of Dimona, home to many Russian-speaking immigrants, Avigdor Lieberman, who could win as many as 12 parliament seats, insisted his idea of transferring Israeli Arabs was no different from the consensus idea of evicting at least some West Bank Jewish settlers.
“It is not possible for the Palestinian state to be emptied of Jews while Israel remains a bi-national state with a 20 percent Arab population,” he said.
“We must proceed with exchanges of territory and if necessary of population,” said Lieberman.
The ultra-nationalist politician is himself likely to be evicted from his home in the Nokdim settlement near Bethlehem if as expected Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wins the mandate to press ahead with further evacuations.
“I do not see why it is okay to evict Jews but forbidden to do the same with Arabs. I prefer to give them Umm el-Fahm and Kfar Kassem and get Maal Adumim in return,” he said, referring to the largest West Bank Jewish settlement.
Being equated with Jewish settlements causes outrage in the two overwhelmingly Arab towns.
But it is a position encapsulated in the very name of the party Lieberman founded in 1999 — Yisrael Beitenu, or Israel Our Home, the corollary being spelt out in the party’s slogan for this election: “… And Palestine Theirs.”
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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at least the told bibi to stick it, and the nationalist camp is becoming more openly racist if it now following thi avigdor lieberman. This is the death throws of the settler movement.
The other good thing is that Labor was successful by linking social issues to the settlements. The only neoliberal labor under Barak turned off the sephardics who might otherwise be open to peace. In a year unilateralism will be discredited, and kadima will be thankful Sharon had a stroke. This coalition is unstable and the sets the stage for Peretz. Meretz, need to merge with them.
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Some quotes from Israeli media on the election result ::
Source: Haaretz
By Yoel Marcus – Haaretz
TEL AVIV (Haaretz) — In the wake of the party’s poor election day performance, senior Meretz officials leveled harsh criticism against faction chairman Yossi Beilin.
Meretz earned four seats for the next Knesset, a 2-seat decline compared to the outgoing legislature. Although party regulations stipulate new elections for the chairmanship within one year, senior officials within Meretz are working to expedite the date of the elections in the wake of the failure.
MK Zehava Gal-On, who is Meretz’s faction chairman in the Knesset, announced her intention to run, as did MK Ran Cohen, Beilin’s runner-up for the leadership race during the previous primaries.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
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