Haaretz analysts: Political scenarios in a post-Sharon era

Last update - 16:59 05/01/2006


Haaretz analysts: Political scenarios in a post-Sharon era

By Haaretz Staff

Yossi Verter: Nothing is certain anymore. Everything that seemed to be true until yesterday has taken a major hit. If, before Wednesday, Ariel Sharon and his Kadima party had been seen as the great victors of the elections, Thursday marked the return of the election race.

Kadima will probably remain intact and its members won't return to their former parties, but its public support and power have been severely damaged. How severely? The polls that come out Thursday night and Friday will give an initial indication, albeit incomplete, as they will have been be conducted while everyone is in a state of shock and sorrow at Sharon's condition.

The country's major political entities are facing three tasks: Kadima will have to prove it is not a one-man party; Labor chief Amir Peretz will have to reassert the relevance of his party, maybe by welcoming back a few of its lost sons; Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu will do the same. In any event, an age of utter uncertainty, almost unprecedented, began in Israeli politics on Thursday.



Aluf Benn: The big winners in the political arena after the deterioration in Sharon's health are the Likud top two, Benjamin Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom. Netanyahu returns to the starting line of the elections race as a candidate with a good chance of becoming prime minister once again, despite the fact that he had been dismissed as the leader of a marginal right-wing party.


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