The counting of the last 167,000 votes in Tuesday's election - those of the soldiers, prison inmates, hospital patients, and diplomats abroad - has led to minor changes in the tallying of the Knesset seats. The Likud rose to 38 seats, double that of Labor, and the National Religious Party rose to six seats. The parties that lost seats were Am Echad and the Arab Hadash party of Ahmed Tibi and Muhammed Barakeh, both of which dropped to 3. Ayoub Kara of the Likud, who represents the party's Druze sector, and Nissan Slomiansky (NRP), a resident of the Shomron community Elkanah, will be MKs, at the expense of Addisu Messele (Am Echad) and Dov Hanin, the Jewish member of Hadash.
NRP leader Effie Eitam thanked the IDF soldiers for granting his party an extra mandate. "The confidence that the soldiers placed in us reflects more than anything the central message of the NRP," Eitam said, "that army service can be combined with faith, tradition, and values." Eitam also called Addisu Messele, and expressed his regrets that Messele would not be in the Knesset.
The final Knesset line-up thus gives the Likud the possibility of forming a "narrow" right-wing government of 69 MKs: Shas (11), National Union (7), NRP (6), United Torah Judaism (5), and Yisrael B'Aliyah (2), plus the Likud's 38. Am Echad would probably join such a government as well, giving it 72 seats.
However, it is assumed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will continue to pursue his preferred government, namely, a unity government with Labor and possibly with Shinui.
NRP leader Effie Eitam thanked the IDF soldiers for granting his party an extra mandate. "The confidence that the soldiers placed in us reflects more than anything the central message of the NRP," Eitam said, "that army service can be combined with faith, tradition, and values." Eitam also called Addisu Messele, and expressed his regrets that Messele would not be in the Knesset.
The final Knesset line-up thus gives the Likud the possibility of forming a "narrow" right-wing government of 69 MKs: Shas (11), National Union (7), NRP (6), United Torah Judaism (5), and Yisrael B'Aliyah (2), plus the Likud's 38. Am Echad would probably join such a government as well, giving it 72 seats.
However, it is assumed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will continue to pursue his preferred government, namely, a unity government with Labor and possibly with Shinui.