Israel Moves Forward
Ehud Olmert pulled it off, but he has plenty of work to do — and lots of concessions in his future. He'll have to give at least a few key ministries to Labor — I'm guessing Peretz will get finance minister, and there's a possibility of a defense post there for Labor. Three things: Fewer ...
Ehud Olmert pulled it off, but he has plenty of work to do -- and lots of concessions in his future. He'll have to give at least a few key ministries to Labor -- I'm guessing Peretz will get finance minister, and there's a possibility of a defense post there for Labor. Three things:
Ehud Olmert pulled it off, but he has plenty of work to do — and lots of concessions in his future. He'll have to give at least a few key ministries to Labor — I'm guessing Peretz will get finance minister, and there's a possibility of a defense post there for Labor. Three things:
- Fewer than two thirds of registered voters turned up at the polls – the lowest turnout for a Knesset election in Israeli history. That was expected, but given what's at stake with this election — Olmert plans a major pullout of the West Bank – I thought Israeli voters would vote in force at the last minute.
- Likud got slammed. Fifth place, with only 11 seats. That's down from 38 in the last Knesset. Expect Netanyahu to go soon.
- Labor's strong showing: 20 seats, the second largest share behind Kadima's 28. I was convinced a few months ago that Peretz's economic message would resonate with voters, but I also thought that Peretz would siphon away Sephardic voters from Likud (he's the first Sephardic Jew to lead a major party).
Many of those voters Peretz wanted flocked to Shas, the Sephardic ultra-orthodox party, which garnered 13 seats and will be a likely coalition partner with Labor and Kadima. If anything, Labor was successful in convincing potential Kadima voters to move left. And I still think that, if Peretz can get some economic reforms in the mix — he supports a higher minimum wage, welfare reforms, and jobs programs — he'll attract some of those working class voters that went to Shas this time around.
Be sure to check out Freedland in the Guardian on how the settler movement has finally truly lost the support of the Israeli mainstream.
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