- Senator William Learned Marcy, b. 1786-1857
Source:
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima Party was forecast to eke out a surprising victory in Israel's election Tuesday, but exit polls showed strong support for hard-line rivals that will make it difficult for her to form a coalition government.
The exit polls announced on Israeli TV stations said the centrist Kadima had a narrow edge over Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line Likud Party. The results, if confirmed, marked a stunning turn of events for Netanyahu, who had held a solid lead in opinion polls until just before the parliamentary election.
At Kadima's election night headquarters, the crowd erupted in cheers when the results came out, with some supporters jumping up and down, giving each other high fives and hugs, and screaming and whistling. Netanyahu's party also claimed victory, saying it was in a better position to put together a parliamentary majority.
A hawkish coalition would complicate things for President Barack Obama, who is promising an aggressive push for peace by his administration.
Israelis vote for parties, not individuals. Since no party won a parliamentary majority, the leader of one of the major parties must try to put together a coalition with other factions -- a process that can take up to six weeks.
The exit polls predicted that ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, an advocate of stripping Israeli Arabs of their citizenship, would play a key role in the next coalition.
