| Israel's 2003 Election Results | |
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The Story
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon led his Likud Party to a resounding victory in Israel's 2003 Elections. Sharon is the first incumbent Israeli prime minister to win re-election since the 1980's. A solid majority of Israelis view Sharon as a competent leader, rather than merely another politician, partly because of the way he has made decisions based on the country's overall welfare rather than on the welfare of his particular party. For example, Sharon abandoned his own party's "no Palestinian State" platform, in order to make a national unity government possible.
The 2003 elections will go down in history as the elections with the lowest turnout in Israel's 54 year history. Only 68.5 percent of the electorate voted, 10% lower than in 1999. The low voter turn-out is a reflection of the public's belief that the early elections, brought about by the Labor party's threat to topple the government, were unnecessary and even wasteful as the results would be nearly the same as the last elections.
Thirteen of the twenty seven parties competing for representation in the country's 16th government won enough votes get a seat in the 120-seat Israeli Parliament, called the Knesset. The right-wing parties resoundingly beat the left-wing parties as the Israeli public made it clear it has lost faith in Oslo and Arafat as a peace partner. The fastest growing party was Shinui (Change), which promises to undo the favorable conditions given to the ultra-orthodox in Israel such as not having to perform any kind of national or army duty.
The Seats
The distribution of the 120 Knesset seats are:
| RIGHT 69 | CENTER 15 | LEFT 36 |
| Likud 38 | Shinui 15 | Labor 19 |
| Shas 11 | Meretz 6 | |
| National Union 7 | Am Echad 3 | |
| Mafdal 6 | Hadash 3 | |
| United Torah Judaism 5 | Balad 3 | |
| Yisrael B'Aliyah 2 | United Arab List (UAL) 2 |
The Coalition
To create a stable government that can create change, a coaltion of at least 61 seats must be formed.
Sharon is in a position to form either a coalition of right-wing and religious party parties (Likud, Shas, National Union, Mafdal, United Torah Judaism, Yisrael B'Aliyah) or a secular and centrist government (Likud, Shinui, Labor, and others).
Sharon and most of the country prefers the secular, centrist government, but the Labor party, led by Amram Mitzna, has said it would not join a National Unity Government led by Sharon.
Neverthelesss, there is still some hope that either the Labor will replace Mitzna with a leader willing to create a unity government or the Labor party will convince Sharon to make enough concessions for Labor to be able to join into a Likud-led coalition.
"I hope Mitzna realizes that the campaign is over and that there's a country to run," said Dan Naveh, Minister of Industry and Trade.
Shunui Party Leader, Tommy Lapid, called upon Labor to withdraw its promise to not join a national-unity government, saying Mitzna cannot abandon the government to the extreme right. Lapid said. "We cannot waste this historic opportunity that the public gave us (to change Israel). The Labor Party is not as important as the state."
The Future
Some 27,000 policemen, border policemen, soldiers, and private guards were on duty to protect the nearly 8,000 polling stations scattered throughout the country. Despite dozens of warnings of possible terrorist attacks, the day went relatively smoothly.
Sharon, in his victory speech, reminded Israelis of the serious issues facing the country - terrorism, the Iraqi crisis, and the socio-economic crisis.
"Today is not the time for celebrations - no celebrations. This is a time for soul-searching, for coming together in unity, for fusing all forces in order to bring about a genuine victory."
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~ Lisa Katz
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