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.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
