Polls: Kadima Holds Narrow Lead Over Lukud
Jerusalem — Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party appeared to have edged out Likud in voting Tuesday, Israeli exit polls showed.
Exit polls released at the close of voting for the 18th Israeli Knesset showed Kadima winning 30 seats and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud winning 28 seats.
Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitneinu vaulted over Labor to become the Knesset’s third-largest party, with 15 seats, according to polls, with Labor falling to some 13 seats.
Official results were not expected to be available until the wee hours of Wednesday morning in Israel.
Kadima’s apparent victory puts Livni, currently Israel’s foriegn minister, in the No. 1 spot to put together a coalition government with a minimum of 61 seats and become prime minister.
Voter turnout was higher than expected as Israelis went to the polls Tuesday on a stormy and cold day following a week of unseasonably warm weather, and after a compressed three-week campaign due to the recent war in Gaza.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.