Olmert’s Unstunning Victory
Charles Johnson
Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 7:10 pm PST • Views: 211
Ehud Olmert will be the new Israeli Prime Minister, in the lowest election turnout in Israel’s history, and he wasted no time announcing further pullouts from the West Bank.
JERUSALEM - Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared victory for his centrist Kadima party in Israel’s elections Tuesday, vowing to act on his own if necessary to draw Israel’s final borders and “painfully” uproot Jewish settlers if negotiations with the Palestinians are not possible.
Standing below a massive portrait of his mentor Ariel Sharon, Olmert addressed chanting Kadima members after exit polls and media reports of early results predicted the party would have enough seats in parliament to form a ruling coalition.
Building on the vision of Sharon, who formed the party shortly before succumbing to a devastating stroke that left him in a coma, Olmert claimed a mandate to withdraw from much of the West Bank and set Israel’s borders, which he has said he will do by 2010.
The turnout was the lowest in Israel’s history, and the results showed voters turning away from conventional political parties to an assortment of third parties with agendas ranging from pensioner rights to the legalization of marijuana.
Frank says: