Exit polls point to Kadima victory in Israeli election
Projections by Israel’s three main TV stations today showed acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s centrist Kadima Party winning Israel’s election.
While his victory was less than pre-election polls had predicted, it placed him in a position to form a centre-left coalition which could carry out his plan to draw Israel’s final borders by 2010.
“Kadima has won today. The next Prime Minister is Ehud Olmert,” said Roni Bar-On, a Kadima parliamentarian.
The centre-left Labour Party, a likely coalition partner for Olmert, came in a strong second.
The hard-line Likud, which dominated Israeli politics for three decades and opposes Olmert’s plan to withdraw from much of the West Bank, came in far behind, according to the polls broadcast immediately after the official polls closed.
According to the TV projections, Kadima would win between 29 and 32 seats in the 120-member parliament.
Analysts had said Kadima winning more than 35 seats would be considered a clear victory. In recent opinion polls Kadima was winning 34 seats.
Labour was given 20 to 22 seats, and Likud 11 or 12 seats, according to the TV projections.
If confirmed by final results, the projections mean Olmert could likely form a centre-left coalition to carry out his plan of drawing Israel’s final borders by 2010.
The final turnout figures were not immediately available. However, throughout the day the turnout lagged behind that of previous elections. A low turnout was seen as hurting Kadima and favouring small, ideological parties.
Strong showings were made by two marginal parties.
The hard-line Israel Beitenu Party of Avigdor Lieberman, who advocates redrawing Israel’s borders to exclude Israeli Arabs, was expected to win between 12 and 14 seats, making it the third largest party in parliament. Lieberman’s party has two representatives in the old parliament. Opinion polls had predicted Lieberman’s party would achieve between 10 and 15 seats.
The Pensioners’ Party, not represented in the last parliament, was expected to win six to eight seats, and Kadima officials said the party was a natural coalition partner for Olmert.
