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Article: Decision day for Israel: `Tribal politics' divide as nation heads for polls.(News Analysis)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- May 17, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Israel has been drifting away from the Zionist dream of a unified Jewish nation and will be even more fragmented after today's election as "tribal politics" continue to splinter the traditionally feisty electorate.
More and more, Israelis are not voting for the mainstream Likud or Labor parties but for ethnic and religious political groupings.
So the winner of today's ballot - either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Labor challenger Ehud Barak - will preside over a gaggle of special interest parties in the Knesset, or parliament.
More than 80 percent of the 4.3 million eligible voters in the nation of 6 million are expected to turn out ...