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Sharon wins landslide victory
TEL AVIV, Israel -- Right wing Ariel Sharon has won an historic landslide victory in the special Israeli prime minister elections.
The former general and defense minister, nicknamed 'Bulldozer', captured 62.6 percent of the vote, with 99.9 percent of ballot papers counted -- a 25 percent majority. His opponent, Ehud Barak, resigned as Labor party leader and quit his seat in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament immediately after the defeat. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who has condemned Sharon's invasion of Lebanon and his role in the 1983 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees, said he would continue to seek a peace agreement. But he said a peace deal with a Sharon government would be "not only on the Palestinian track (but) the Lebanese track and the Syrian track so that we can have a new Middle East."
He has rejected Sharon's plans to ditch the progress made under the Barak regime.
Sharon promised Israelis the country was on a new path of "security and true peace" during his victory speech. The message was a repeat of his campaign slogan which said that he would provide security for Israel while continuing to negotiate peace with the Palestinians. He has given no indication whether he will offer more land to the Palestinians in the search for peace and has not said if he will continue to allow the policy of building Israeli settlements on disputed territory. His supporters greeted Sharon's political comeback with chants calling for the "End of Oslo" -- the interim peace accord that Sharon opposed. Sharon is to try and assemble a national unity government, drawing in Labor leaders, including Barak. The Likud party's natural allies in the Knesset, the right-wing and religious parties, do not command a majority. Barak's poll of just 37.2 percent of the vote was even less than initial exit polls projected by Israeli television, which estimated he would lose by a 20 percent margin.
The vote was a stinging rebuke of Barak, who conceded defeat an hour after the exit polls were released. Israelis were unhappy at how far Barak was prepared to go in search of a peace deal with the Palestinians while ultimately failing to reach agreement. They were also disappointed at the lack of economic measures introduced by Barak to improve prosperity. Barak also failed to mobilize large numbers of his core voters -- Arab Israelis and Russian immigrants -- a fact reflected in the 62 percent turnout nationally. That is a sharp drop from the 1999 election turnout of 78.7 percent. Israel's voting average of close to 80 percent is among the democratic world's highest. Barak insisted his pursuit of peace with the Palestinians was the "one and only true path" and that his party was ahead of its time. "Friends, we have lost a battle but we will win the war," he said.
Palestinians declared a "day of rage" on Tuesday, and dozens of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. Sharon has taken a hard-line approach to peace talks with the Palestinians, pledging in his victory speech to "strengthen and build the united Jerusalem, Israel's capital and the capital of the Jewish people for all eternity." Palestinians say they will work with Sharon -- Israel's fifth prime minister in less than eight years -- but the promise was tinged with a warning that Palestinians will not move backward in the peace talks. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN: "To have a meaningful peace process we will continue where we left off." Once official results are announced on February 13, Sharon will have 45 days to form a new government. Barak remains prime minister in a caretaker role until Sharon assumes office His first big hurdle will be passing the 2001 budget, which must be approved by the Knesset by March 31. If that deadline passes without a budget, new elections would be called for both the parliament and the prime minister. Sharon said he had received a call from U.S. President George W. Bush congratulating him. Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have been speaking with U.S. allies in the Middle East, urging restraint. But Powell acknowledged the U.S. can do little else but simply encourage the region to remain calm. The Associated Press contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES:
Israelis vote amid threats RELATED SITES:
Israeli Prime Minister's Office |
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