Jerusalem--After a rollercoaster election campaign that saw a shock win by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud, here is a look at what the main players won -- and lost.
Who are the winners?
- Netanyahu is the big winner, with Likud winning 30 of parliament's 120 seats, and second-place Isaac Herzog's centre-left Zionist Union taking 24. Netanyahu campaigned warning of the dangers of a centre-left government, saying it would make territorial concessions in annexed east Jerusalem that would allow for a Palestinian capital there.
- The Joint List, which groups the main Arab parties, won 14 votes to make it the third largest party in parliament.
- Kulanu, the new centrist party of Likud defector Moshe Kahlon, which campaigned on a social agenda and won 10 seats. Kulanu's support will be essential for Netanyahu as he tries to piece together a coalition, turning Kahlon into the new kingmaker. Aware of that, Netanyahu offered Kahlon the treasury 48 hours before the vote.
And the losers?
- The Zionist Union headed by Herzog and HaTnuah leader Tzipi Livni, who conceded defeat Wednesday. Trailing Likud by six seats, they are in no position to piece together a credible parliamentary majority.
- Jewish Home, the far-right national religious party that strongly advocates settlement and rejects a Palestinian state. It won only eight seats, compared with 12 in 2013, with commentators saying it had bled many votes to Likud.
- Yisrael Beitenu, the hardline nationalist party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, which secured only six seats, compared with 11 in the last election. In this case too, many of its supporters used their vote strategically to support Likud.
- Yesh Atid, the centrist party of Yair Lapid, was another that saw its number of seats plunge, from 19 to 11.
- The two ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism also saw losses, collectively winning 13. compared with 18 in 2013. Shas fell from 11 seats to seven. UTJ dropped from seven to six in a move attributed to the emergence of Yahad, a new extreme-right religious party set up by a former Shas leader that failed to secure enough votes to enter parliament.
- The leftwing Meretz also lost out, obtaining only four seats, compared with six in the previous election.
- Israel's pollsters were also among the losers, with none of them predicting that Netanyahu would beat Herzog. In the week preceding the vote, they gave a lead of up to four places to the Zionist Union. Even the exit polls were wrong, putting the two parties neck-and-neck with 27 seats apiece.
AFP
