Young Writers Society

Quote:

Exit polls show center-left bloc winning 62-66 seats
By Haaretz Staff

Exit polls released as polling stations closed at 10 P.M. Tuesday showed center-left parties gaining a total of between 62 and 66 seats, with Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima winning 29 to 32 seats, Labor 20-22 seats, Meretz five and the Arab parties seven to eight seats.

The Likud, which had hoped to block a center-left coalition, won 11 to 12 seats in the poll, far below the figures the party had hoped and a far cry from the 38 seats it won under Ariel Sharon in 2003.



Advertisement

The results, if accurate, could mean that the Likud would become Israel's fourth largest party, with the Russian immigrant-dominated Yisrael Beiteinu becoming the third largest list in the 120-seat house with 12 to 14 seats.

In the largest surprise of the night, the Pensioners party was seen to win six to eight seats.

The Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas won 10-11 seats in the exit polls, meaning it could have the same strength as the Likud.

The polls also showed the right-wing National Union-NRP taking eight to nine seats and the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism five to six seats.

Low turnout vexes large parties
The three largest parties had been under mounting pressure as polls neared closing time, fearing that the lowest voter turnout in Israeli electoral history may sap their strength in the next Knesset.

A low turnout had been expected to work in favor of smaller, ideology-driven parties, especially those of the right. It may also enable such issue-based factions as the Pensioners party to enter the Knesset for the first time.

By 8 P.M., voter turnout was running some five percentage points behind that of the 2003 elections. Election officials said only 57 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots by 6 P.M., compared to nearly 62.8 percent at that hour in 2003.

Kadima, which analysts have said stands to be hit the hardest by low turnout, sent out hundreds of thousands of SMS messages, urging citizens to go to the polls before they closed at 10 P.M. The party also sent activists to aid Russian immigrant voters in distinguishing between Kadima's ballot symbol and the similar symbol of the pro-marijuana legalization Green Leaf party.

Polling stations opened at 7 A.M. 5,014,622 voters are registered to participate in the elections. After the 8,280 polling stations across the country close, the three main TV stations will release exit polls.

Just 9.9 percent of Israel's registered voters had cast their ballots by 10 A.M. and the trend continued as the day wore on. By noon, just 21.7 percent of voters had cast their ballots - the lowest turnout in Israeli history. At 2 P.M., only 30.9 percent of voters had turned out compared to 35.3 percent in 2003, and by 4 P.M. 39 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots, compared to 44.2 percent in 2003.

By 6 P.M., 47 percent of voters had cast their ballots versus 52.8 percent in 2003.

Voter turnout in the Arab and Druze sectors was also low. By mid-day, only 11 percent of voters had cast their ballots in the northern Israeli Arab town of Shfaram, 1.5 percent in the Druze town Daliat al-Carmel and in Haifa, only 7.5 percent of Arabs had turned out to vote.

The total expected voter turnout is some 66 percent - around two percent lower than the rate in the 2003 elections, the lowest turnout in Israeli election history. The prevailing assessment is that low turnout will work to the detriment of Kadima and Labor.

Although Kadima has scored well in the polls - Monday's survey predicted it would win 36 seats - the combination of complacency and undecided votes leave room for Election Day surprises.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his wife Aliza cast their ballots near their Jerusalem home early Tuesday. "Go and vote too," said Olmert wishing "a good day for the citizens of Israel."

The Shin Bet domestic security service used strict security arrangements, checking all those present at the polling station for explosives, including the members of the ballot committee.

The acting prime minister came to vote as soon as the station opened at 7:00 A.M. in order for the security arrangements not to delay to voting procedure for other voters.

Kadima's no. 2 Shimon Peres voted at a polling station in Ramat Aviv and also called on the citizens to come and vote.

Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz and his wife Ahlama voted around 10 A.M. in his hometown of Sderot.

Israel Defense Forces and police were on high alert, with thousands of police officers and Border Police troops deployed throughout the country, particularly in Jerusalem and along the seam line boundary with the West Bank. The border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip have been closed and there is a tightened closure on the West Bank.

Discuss.
Source-Haaretz Dailyhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/699377.html

This is a good thing, I presume? That whole area is confusing to me. Everyone is so up in arms that no one is really right, in the end, it'll just be whoever is left.

LamaLama wrote:This is a good thing, I presume? That whole area is confusing to me. Everyone is so up in arms that no one is really right, in the end, it'll just be whoever is left.

Belive me, there are people who are right and there are people who are wrong. I will let you decide who is who for yourself, being personally biased myself. *looks at avvie*

Patriotism is fine, but Lieberman frightens me: the man is a fundementalist and a manic - any politician who wants a pledge of alligence to the state religion is walking a dangerous line. Tolerance does not lie down that road, and God knows we need tolerance now more than ever.

His party only got 12 seats.

Making his party the third biggest in the country: that's like the BNP beating the Liberal Democrats in the UK elections. That that kind of policy is accepted and endorsed by anyone frightens me, never mind enough to get 12 seats in a general election.

Well, Im sorry you feel that way. But you are confused, I think, on what he ACTUALLY said. Seeing as you're in Britain, however, and anti-israel media bias from the Guardian and BBC is par for the course, however, I won't hold it against you. Firstly, he didn't say he wanted people to swear aliegiance to Judaism as a state religion, since Yisrael Beiteinu (his party) is a secular party, being composed mostly of Russians from the former Soviet Union. Second, what he DID say was that he want Israel to remain a secular, strong Jewish state with a high Jewish majority, with Jews controlling the government. If you don't agree with that, thats fine, its your oppinion, but at least form your oppinion on what he ACTUALLY said.

Firstly, it was in the Times; then it was on the BBC; then it was also in the Christian Science Monitor (God bless Google newsflash) and then again in another online newspaper which I can't remember the name of. Some random thing.

All of them say the same thing: Lieberman wants people to have to sign a 'pledge of allegiance' by aged 16, swearing that they believe in the Zionist principles on which the state is founded.

That's what it says: I is just da chauffer.

Zionism is completely different than Judaism. Do you even know what Zionism is? I'm sure you think you do, but most people do, and they are usually wrong.
Zionism is defined as: A political movement and Ideology that supports the creation, and maintaining, of a Jewish state (secular or otherwise), with a majority jewish population, and self-determination, in the Jewish people's historical homeland, Israel. Many people also add "with Jerusalem as its capitol" after that, but either way, tis the same thing.

And with that, I agree. The same way that Americans swear allegiance to the American flag and ideology of freedom and liberty, why shouldn't Israelis do the same thing with the ideals under which it was founded? That of Zionism?

With a majority Jewish population?

Ouch.

And why not? Britain has a majority English. England has a majority Angle/English population.
Italy has a majority ethnic Italian population.
Saudi Arabia has a majority Arab population. (Actually, its 100% arab)
Etc. etc. etc.

Tell me why the Jews cannot have a majority in their own state. Majority rule, and thus, since Israel is a democracy, we have a need to keep the Jewish majority, so it doesn't become like Apartheid South Africa. What, pray tell, is wrong with that?

There is no law in the UK that says it has to have a majority of British people.

There is no law, no. But demographically, in order for it to remain a democracy, if it wishes to remain the "British/English nation" the British/English people must remain in the majority, no?

Anyway, it is an example.

What I meant was this. There are three types of nations in this world. Civil: the US, UK and Australia and Canada are examples of this
Cultural: Where citizenship is bassed on culture. This is hard to find examples for strictly this. I would say the British commonwealth nations sort of overlap here.
Then there are Ethnic Nation-States: this is more or less every other nation in the world. Ethnic Germans inhabit/control Germany, Ethnic Russians inhabit/Control Russia, Ethnic Francs inhabit/Control France, ethnic Arabs inhabit/control the numerous arab countries in the world, especially Saudi Arabia. So, too, is Israel an ethnic nation. It is made up of and inhabited by Ethnic Jews, or members of the Jewish/Israeli/Hebrew ethnic group. I see no problem with this.

Well, completely apart from severly limiting the gene pool (great argument, that one, always makes me laugh), the only real problem is that it fosters an isolationist and seperatist mindset, which leads people far more easily into ignorance and violence against others.

backgroundbob wrote:Well, completely apart from severly limiting the gene pool (great argument, that one, always makes me laugh), the only real problem is that it fosters an isolationist and seperatist mindset, which leads people far more easily into ignorance and violence against others.

I would have to say it doesn't. Firstly, Jews are not the ONLY people in Israel. There are many non-Jews in Israel, who are loyal Israeli citizens. There are Greeks (Preists), Armenians, Druze, Bedouins, etc. That firstly. Secondly, how is that different from any other country? There are plenty of other countries that do the exact same thing as Israel (on glaring example is Saudi Arabia, where in order to even ENTER the country you must be Muslim) and they do not get anywhere near the same criticizm of Israel. I would like to warn against setting double standards against Israel. Because, while Legitimate criticizm of Israel and its policies is fine and dandy and not in anyway anti-semetic, setting double standards for Israel that are next to impossible to follow that aren't set for other countries, is.