Soldiers' votes did not change the final results of the election, Central Elections Committee officials announced Thursday night. Kadima remains in the lead with 28 seats.
The gap between Kadima and Likud narrowed from 36,000 votes to 20,000 as the IDF votes were counted, but the two parties remain one seat apart.
Likud was the most popular party among soldiers, and Kadima came in second place. Labor was more popular among soldiers than it was among the general public, but still came in fourth to Yisrael Beiteinu. The fifth most popular party was Shas.
Dozens of soldiers chose to vote for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit instead of selecting a party. Their vote slips read “Gilad Shalit – for how long?” and “Bring Gilad Shalit home.”
The Elections Committee now plans to begin calculating each party's final status under the vote-sharing agreements signed before the election. Vote sharing allows one party to benefit from votes given to a second party that did not change that party's number of mandates.
The implementation of the vote-sharing agreements is not expected to alter the parties' standings.