The central election commission has officially announced that Tzipi Livni's moderate Kadima party has won the elections by one seat over Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud. Kadima got 28 seats, followed by 27 seats for Likud, 15 seats for the far-right Ysrael Beiteinu party, and 13 seats for the Labor Party. However, these figures did not deter the conflicting statements of the two competing parties, which resulted into a political chaos that has led to an Israeli shekel decline against the U.S. dollar. Livni told her jubilant supporters: “The Israeli people can smile again when we form the government.”
Yet Netanyahu at the same time said he would be the next prime minister “with the grace of God,” as he put it. The leader of the center-right party called on him to respect the choice of the voters and to join a coalition government. Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Ysrael Beiteinu party, said he is willing to join a coalition government headed by Livni or Netanyahu. He said that he wishes from his heart for a national government, and that the primary objective of any future government should be to defeat Hamas.
As for the Labor Party, its leader Ehud Barak said that he does not mind to be among the opposition, that he will learn from his mistakes, and that he would not take part in a coalition government. On the Palestinian side, the Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Israelis have voted against the peace process, while the chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei said that Israel is rushing towards the right-wing radical parties. And Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the same. At a seminar in Cairo, political and security experts said the results of the Israeli elections will lead to a marked change in the Israeli priorities.
