KADIMA WINS KNESSET ELECTIONS

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.02.2009 17:05 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Tzipi Livni has won the largest number of seats for
the centrist Kadima party in Israel’s general election, but doubts
remain about her ability to build a ruling coalition.

With almost all the votes counted, Kadima had taken 28 seats compared
with 27 for Benjamin Netanyahu’s Right-wing Likud party.

Miss Livni has achieved a genuine electoral upset and overturned a
once solid lead for Mr. Netanyahu. But she may still be denied the
chance to become Israel’s first female Prime Minister since Golda
Meir in the 1970s.

Together, the Right-wing parties have won a clear majority of about 64
seats in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset, reflecting a crucial
shift in Israeli public opinion. While Mr Netanyahu did not perform
nearly as well as expected, Likud has doubled the number of seats it
won in the last election in 2006.

All this means that Mr Netanyahu may still emerge as prime
minister. The choice will probably rest with Avigdor Lieberman, the
leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party. He has taken
15 seats, coming a close third behind Kadima and Likud and giving
him the ability to play the kingmaker.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Labor Party gained 13 seats, The
Telegraph reports.