There will be a lot more to say when all the dust settles. But one very happy result of the just-concluding Israeli election is the body blow it has dealt to the Likud. According to this Reuters report, Likud looks set to win a mere 12 seats in the next Knesset. Kadima, the new party Sharon founded just before his stroke, will probably get 30 or just over and Labor will get between 20 to 22.
It’s not that the right has collapsed. Some of this is just a matter of reshuffling. Yisrael Beiteinu, a right-wing immigrant party will likely get 12-13 seats too. Still though, for a party that’s dominated Israeli politics since the mid-1970s, it’s a devastating result.
With Netanyahu now at the helm of this broken party, well … it really couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
The Haaretz headline sums it up: Center-Left 62-66 seats, Right 48-51.
Late Update: Jo-Ann Mort, who unlike me knows a lot about this stuff, previews the coming coalition negotiations.
