According to leaders of the Livni camp, the foreign minister is the new leader of the Kadima party, taking the election by 479 votes. Senior officials in the Mofaz camp are signaling an appeal is to be expected.

It is already clear that the pre-election and exit polls were incorrect, predicting a sweeping win for Livni of at least 10%, but the low voter turnout has resulted in an entirely different reality on Thursday morning. As of 5:00AM, Kadima Party Election Committee officials are still tabulating the approximately 39,000 votes, representing less than 50% of the party’s eligible voters, stressing the final announcement of a winner in the race will not be made at this time.

There are already accusations of foul play by Livni supporters in a number of polling stations, including Beit Jon, and Livni supporters are claiming foul play in the Druse community, where they claim votes were manipulated to help Mofaz.

Realizing the race was taking a different direction than predicted by pollsters, MK Ronit Tirosh at about 3:30AM called on Kadima Election Committee Chairman retired justice Dan Arbel to halt the final announcement and prevent Livni from making a victory speech. Tirosh stated “we are going to stop the election,” stating with a modicum of certainty that there are disputed polling station results. Tirosh also had harsh words for the media, who released an exit poll 15 minutes before polling stations closed, giving Livni a 12% lead, resulting in many voters deciding it was pointless to wait on line and vote with Livni holding such a large lead.

Prior to Tirosh publicly voicing her concerns, Justice Arbel announced a number of concerns regarding some polling stations, announcing the Rahat votes would not be counted. A dispute the ensued in the voting station resulted in the voting slips being tossed around; leading to the decision to invalidate the results of that station, which polls predicted would support Livni and Dichter.

One example may be taken from the Rishon L’Tzion polling station, the largest, with over 5,000 voters, Mofaz emerged the winner with 49% of the vote as compared to 44% to Livni.

In Petach Tikvah, where Mofaz was expected to win, Livni won with 51% to Mofaz’s 44%.

While Kadima Election Committee officials announced at 5:00AM they would not declare a winner as of yet, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the night phoned Livni, congratulating her and promising her his total cooperation.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)