Israeli Election Update
Most of the votes have been counted (it’s the middle of the night in Israel). Out of the 33 political parties participating, 5 major and 7 minor parties have elected one or more MKs (Members of the incoming Knesset):
With 88 percent of the votes counted, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party is in first place with 29 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party following closely behind with 27 seats.
As the vote progresses, Labor stands at 13 seats, while Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party is expected to garner 16 seats.
Now it is time for coalition-building, as neither Livni’s Kadima nor Netanyahu’s Likud won enough seats to rule on its own or with its generally-allied parties. It is not clear whether Livni or Netanyahu will be the next Prime Minister of Israel or, as in the case of a Kadima-Likud coalition, they’d have to rotate.
5 Responses to “Israeli Election Update”
Wow – Lieberman is up to 16? Wow.
Israel is one of the examples of what's really wrong with a Parliamentary system run wild. 33 parties. How to never get anything worthwhile done and have a government held hostage to any fringe group that is in the right place at the right time.
Well – for sure, it's a mixed bag – on the one hand, the country is small enough that direct representation seems like a great idea. On the other hand, it's a diverse place on many levels and that makes it complex. On the third hand, people should remember this when they try to generalize about “Israel” – it really IS a diverse place, with diverse ideologies. I'm afraid I don't have a good answer for how to make it function better necessarily.
Jill,
What I mean is that while I consider complaints about being limited to a two party system like ours to be perfectly valid, Israel takes it to an opposite extreme that makes effective governance almost impossible. Italy had the same problem for quite a while.
Absolutely – I too always think of Italy when I think of Israel.