Truth be said, few really understand the complex workings of the Israeli political system but here are some figures that may assist in achieving this noble goal.

Election officials report a total of 3,217,847 people voted in the election and there were 3,082,119 votes, explaining the remainder was disqualified for one reason or another.

If one divides the number of accepted votes by the number of Knesset seats, 120, one learns that each mandate required 25,684 votes.

Today, Thursday, the soldiers’ votes, number 188,000 will be tabulated, which should bring the number of votes to 3,270,119. That will bring the number of votes required per Knesset seat to 27,251. 

While there are endless media reports regarding how many seats each party has earned, YWN has refrained from publishing the numbers of seats following the election exit polls since nothing is final until the votes of soldiers, prisons and hospitals are counted, which may be accomplished today, Thursday.

In the meantime, the parties may lose or gain seats as a result of the final tabulations. This is also the reason why President Shimon Peres will only be meeting with the representatives of the parties next week, after all the data has the final stamp of approval.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)