Ten days after the elections in Israel, we finally know who won the Prime Minister's office. Earlier today, Yisrael Beiteinu Party leader Avigdor Lieberman announced that he would be throwing his support behind Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu when he recommends a Prime Minister to President Shimon Peres. So, while Netanyahu's Likud Party finished second in the elections, he now has the support of both the third-place party (Yisrael Beiteinu) and the fifth-place party (Shas). This puts him within 10 votes of a majority in the 120 seat Knesset with a total of 53 seats (27 Likud, 15 Yisrael Beiteinu, 11 Shas). Theoretically, this leaves Likud in a position to form a coalition of only right-wing parties if necessary (although that is not the preference of either Netanyahu or Lieberman)
Meanwhile, Tzipi Livni of the first place Kadima party is getting no love from her potential coalition partners, as neither the left-wing Labor Party nor the far-left Meretz Party will be recommending that President Peres tap Livni for Prime Minister (they will endorse no one). At this point, Livni has pretty much conceded defeat, announcing that she will reject an offer to join Netanyahu's coalition government - denying him the national unity government he wants (Personally, I think she's quite a sore loser). That said, Netanyahu probably will get a broad coalition, as he is still likely try to bring in the Labor Party.
Either way...we can now finally congratulate Prime Minister Netanyahu on his return to power after ten years in the wilderness.
WELCOME BACK, BIBI!
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Yeah!!!
ReplyDeleteThat certainly sounds like good news.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Back indeed!! :-) How often do they have elections for PM?
ReplyDeleteM. Minn,
ReplyDeleteTechnically, the elections are every four years. However, in Parliamentary systems, snap elections can be called by the Prime Minister at any moment or (more likely in Israel) forced when the Prime Minister loses his parliamentary majority (which happens when parties pull out of coalition governments).
Considering the large number of parties in the Israeli system, governments almost never go full term. So, the next election could theoretically happen any minute.
In reality, considering that Bibi is in a bit of a tight spot, I think this government will be extremely lucky to make it three years.
I'm still holding my breath....
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu was the Prime Minister when I spent a semester in Israel. I have to say that it was a relatively peaceful time. I don't know how much to attribute that to his leadership, but I'm sure he gets some of the credit. I wish him the very best. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the education Adam!!
ReplyDeletejindal is taking heat from the mayor of N.O.
ReplyDeleteNagin, who was with a group of mayors at the White House to discuss the federal aid, said that Jindal has "been tapped as the up-and-coming Republican candidate for president the next time it goes around," and that is why Jindal has talked about declining the money.
article
i thought this part was funny
"The American people are watching," Obama said. "They need this plan to work. They expect to see the money that they've earned, that they've worked so hard to earn, spent in its intended purposes (without waste), without inefficiency, without fraud."
Go, Bibi!
ReplyDeleteOff topic. There is a great new pro-life video over at TeamSarah
ReplyDeletehttp://www.teamsarah.org/video/video/show?id=2330231%3AVideo%3A1058758
Oh god, what a tool (Nagin). Hey wasn't he a community agitator at one time as well?
ReplyDeleteNagin does not know what he is doing. There are bad parts of the Porkulus bill.
ReplyDelete