Exit polls: Livni's Kadima winner in 2009 elections

haaretz.com ^ | Feb. 10, 2009 | Haaretz Staff

[Free ThinkerNY]

Exit polls by Israel's three main television stations on Tuesday night showed Kadima as the clear winner in the 2009 general elections, with Likud coming a narrow second.

Channel 1, Channel 2 and Channel 10 polling of voters as they left the ballot box all showed victory for Kadima, headed by Tzipi Livni.

[Texas Fossil]

Let my People Go!

[HardStarboard]

Israel is a coalition government. I have read that it is likely that Kadima will not be able to form a coalition and Bibi will likely be asked to form one from Likud and one of the far-right parties.

All is not lost unless Likud gets a clear majority of seats in the Kenesset....which is 66 I think.

I want to watch Obama/Mitchell/Clinton try to mussle around Benjamin Netanyahu.

If skillfully handled, the Republicans could turn this into a fight between Obama and Clinton as to what happens visa-vie
US foreign policy toward Israel.

[steel_resolve]

to be fair, American Jews sold out Israel first...

[hlmencken3]

Nothing odd about it. Netanyahu is much more popular in USA and FReepdom than he is in Israel. He’s very Clinton-like and just not trusted. Bibi may end up with a winning coalition, however, as Livni and Labour might have to rely on Arab parties non-opposition to them and on Jewish “religious” parties extracting a very high price.

[SJackson]

Smaller party and coalition results.

According to Channel 1, the right-wing bloc won 63 Knesset seats and the left wing 57; Channel 2 predicted 64 for the right and 56 for the left; and Channel 10, like Channel 1, predicted 63 and 57.

The three exit polls, on average, found Shas to be the fifth largest party with 9-10 seats, followed by United Torah Judaism with 5, Meretz 4-5, Chadash 4, Jewish Home 3-4, National Union 3, Balad 2-3 and Ra'am Ta'al with 2-4 mandates.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304741384&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Badeye]

Wheil things are bad here economically, what Israel is facing is simply staggering as it relates to survival.

The Obama Administration is no friend of Tel Aviv, no matter which party is in power there.

[Bobalu]

[Perdogg]

I thought Israeli Prime Ministers were directly elected.

[Perdogg]

Couldn’t Likud form a coalition with Yisraeli and Labor?

[Badeye]

So did I.

[SJackson]

Couldn’t Likud form a coalition with Yisraeli and Labor?

It's a parliamentary system, the Prime Minister isn't directly elected, rather the head of the political party able to form a coalition, usually the party winning the largest number of seats. Labor is to the left of Kadima, unlikely to get along with Likud, but any sort of a coalition could be put together. Yisrael Beiteinu (16), Shas (9-10), United Torah (5), National Union (3), Jewish Home (3-4) would be the logical right wing candidates, which gets Likud to 62-64. To put together a government Livni would need to sweep all other parties, including the Arab parties, and get one or two of the right wing parties to break ranks. Always possible, they negotiate these things by offering cabinet posts and government benefits.

[SJackson]

The President (Peres) is directly elected, and will be the one to decide who gets the first shot at forming a government, Livni or Bibi. The heads of each of the parties are elected in a separate election, a few months ago. In todays election, voters vote for a party, though obviously the campaign revolves about individuals.

[Badeye]

Thanks SJ, didn’t know how it worked.

[SJackson]

A scorecard for anyone who needs one, more info at Israel Votes 2009

 Political Parties & Platforms for 2009

Use this cool Electoral Compass to see who you should pick for Prime Minister given your stance on the issues.

Download the Party Platforms | View Current Political Posters (with Translation)

	Left	Left of Center	Centrist	Right of Center	Right
Major Parties		Labor	Kadima	Likud
Small Parties (Running for Re-election)	·  Meretz ·  National Democratic (Balad) ·  Hadash ·  United Arab List		·  Gil	·  Shas ·  Torah & Shabat Judaism	·  The Jewish Home ·  Yisrael Beitenu ·  National Union
New Parties
(Currently not in the Knesset).	The small parties are listed in alphabetical order according to their Hebrew name and the translation appears in parentheses. Acharayut (Responsibility) Aleh Yarok (Green Leaf) Brit Olam Lemaan Yeladeinu (Lasting Promise to Our Children) Da'am (Workers Party) HaTnuah HaYeroka/Meimad (The Green Movement/Meimad) HaYerokim (The Greens) HaYisraelim (The Israelis) Koach HaKesef (The Power of Money) Koach Lehaspiah (Power to Influence) Lazuz Leader Lev (Heart) Lochamei Hevrah Meuchadim (United Fighters for Society) Mahapach BeHinuch (Revolution in Education) Nitzoley Shoah Im Bogrey Aleh Yarok (Holocaust Survivors w/Green Leaf Alumni) Or (Light) Ra'ash (Men's Rights Party) Tzomet-HaTnuah LeZionut Mithadeshet (Junction - Movement for Renewed Zionism) Yisrael Hamithadeshet (Renewed Israel) Yisrael Hazaka (Strong Israel) Zabar (Youth of Israel)

 

The 17th Knesset [current government]- Seats Per Party

Political Party	# Knesset Seats
Kadima	29
Labor-Meimad	19
Likud	12
Shas	12
Yisrael Beitenu	11
Ichud Leumi - Mafdal	9
Gil Pensioners Party	7
Torah and Shabbat Judaism	6
Meretz	5
United Arab List - Arab Renewal	4
Hadash	3
National Democratic Assembly	3
Total	120

 

[Cincinna]

FoxNews is reporting that Livni’s party Kadima, eked out a very slim victory against, Likud, Netanyahu’s party.

With other right-wing parties making very strong showings, and Labor, with Barak, going down the toilet, it is likely that it will be Bibi who will form the new government.

IMO, the right wing parties will not coalesce around Livni. She is no Golda Meir, and a leftist, feminist lesbian to boot.

[Cincinna]

Hope you are right. Israel has a Parliamentary system, and the winner will have to bring along a coalition to reach 61 votes.

This will likely be Netanyahu. The right wing block has increased in size tom 62-64.

Michael Medved is reporting that Israeli president Shimon Peres, will likely ask Netanyahu to form the next government.

[NoLibZone]

We see Israeli Jews share the desire with American Jews, The PLO, HAMAS and Hezbollah to see the end of Israel.

[justiceseeker93]

The Republican Jewish political action committee actually meets every other Thursday in the phone booth in Times Square.

I hate to tell you this, but that's a bad joke. There is actually a strong, influential national Jewish Republican organization named the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), with steadily increasing membership, a national office in DC within a short walk from the Capitol, four regional offices and local chapters in about 50 cities/metro areas around the country. The web site is rjchq.org .

Several FReepers are members and all Jewish Republicans are invited to join and participate.

[justiceseeker93]

Livni a lesbian? Never heard of that before. She’s not all that attractive, but she doesn’t look like one offhand. I would think that her opponents might have figured that out by now if such were the case.

[justiceseeker93]

FoxNews is reporting that Livni's party Kadima, eked out a slim victory against Likud, Netanyahu's party.

How the heck would they know? I'm sure, since the race is close, the exit poll results are within the margin of error. Plus, as I understand it, the voting is done with paper ballots. It will undoubtedly take more than a few hours to count up 5 million or so paper ballots.