Kadima wins Knesset elections

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tzipi Livni has won the largest number of seats for the centrist Kadima party in Israel's general election, but doubts remain about her ability to build a ruling coalition.



With almost all the votes counted, Kadima had taken 28 seats compared with 27 for Benjamin Netanyahu's Right-wing Likud party.



Miss Livni has achieved a genuine electoral upset and overturned a once solid lead for Mr. Netanyahu. But she may still be denied the chance to become Israel's first female Prime Minister since Golda Meir in the 1970s.



Together, the Right-wing parties have won a clear majority of about 64 seats in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset, reflecting a crucial shift in Israeli public opinion. While Mr Netanyahu did not perform nearly as well as expected, Likud has doubled the number of seats it won in the last election in 2006.



All this means that Mr Netanyahu may still emerge as prime minister. The choice will probably rest with Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party. He has taken 15 seats, coming a close third behind Kadima and Likud and giving him the ability to play the kingmaker.



Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor Party gained 13 seats, The Telegraph reports.