January 24, 2013

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish Home Party gained a seat, the United Arab List – Ta’al Party lost a seat and Kadima officially entered the next  Knesset in the final results of Israel’s 2013 national election.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee on Thursday released the final tally for the election after counting 217,000 ballots collected at remote polling stations, cast by voters in remote locations including soldiers, hospital patients and government employees working overseas.

The final total left the Jewish Home Party with 12 seats and the United Arab List – Ta’al Party with 4 seats, In addition, the Kadima Party officially crossed the 2 percent threshold to gain two seats in the 19th Knesset.

There were no other changes to the number of seats garnered by other parties.

The final vote total means that the right-wing bloc will have 61 seats, to 59 seats for the left-wing bloc, including the Arab parties.

Other parties entering the 19th Knesset are: Likud-Beitenu with 31 seats, Yesh Atid with 19 seats, Labor with 15 seats, Shas with 11 seats, United Torah Judaism with 7 seats, Hatnuah with 6 seats, Meretz with 6 seats, Hadash with 4 seats, and Balad with 3 seats.

Two-thirds, or 3.77 million, of Israel’s 5,656,705 eligible voters turned out, according to the Central Elections Committee. The number of voters was the highest since 1999, though turnout was down significantly among Arab voters.

The final results must be submitted by the Central Elections Committee to President Shimon Peres by Jan. 30.

Following the submission of the final results, Peres will consult with party leaders and ask them who they would recommend to form the next government. Peres then will choose the party leader most likely to be able to form a successful coalition government — it is expected to be Netanyahu — who then has up to 42 days to present his government for a vote of confidence.
 

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