Israeli Who Wins?

Results confirm Israeli deadlock

Neither leader is willing to step aside The final results of Israel’s general election have confirmed that neither of the two main parties can form a government on its own. With military and overseas ballots counted, the governing Kadima still had 28 seats and the opposition Likud had 27 – well short of the 61 they needed. Party leaders are seeking coalition partners to form a government. Israel’s president is expected to begin consultations next week about which party to ask to form a government. The results will be published officially on Wednesday after which President Shimon Peres can ask either Kadima’s Tzipi Livni, the current foreign minister, or Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu to try to form a coalition government. Mr Netanyahu, a former prime minister, has argued that he is best placed to form a government because parliament has a broad right-wing majority. However, the final results released by the Israel Elections Committee dashed his hopes that the late counting of votes from soldiers could swing the ballot his way, correspondents say.

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