Ultra-Orthodox party emerging as Israel kingmaker

azurnoir

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Fri Sep-19-08 11:21 AM
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Ultra-Orthodox party emerging as Israel kingmaker

Having won a fight to be leader of the ruling Kadima Party, Tzipi Livni now will likely need Shas as a partner to become prime minister. But Shas opposes any compromise on Jerusalem, and including it in a coalition could tie her hands in peace talks with the Palestinians.

"If it's clear Jerusalem is on the negotiating table and social-economic needs are not taken into consideration, then we won't be part of the coalition," Shas spokesman Roi Lachmanovitch said.

With opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-line Likud Party polling well, Livni is under heavy pressure to keep the 67-seat coalition intact and avoid elections.

Netanyahu made his preference clear. "The cleanest and most democratic thing to do is to hold a general election," he told reporters Thursday

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_politics;_ylt=AtRXC3KnG7.FrvIHD1m5LMoLewgF

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LeftishBrit

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Sat Sep-20-08 01:41 AM
Response to Original message

1. Sigh...

this is a big problem with the Israeli political system: the almost-pure proportional representation system often gives the small right-wing religious parties too much 'kingmaker' power.

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