Posted on 01/28/2003 6:37:25 PM PST by Nachum
The Meretz party suffered a drastic setback in Tuesday's election, with exit polls indicating that the left-wing standard bearer may have lost as many as half of its seats in the Knesset.
According to the Channel 1 exit poll, widely considered the most reliable, Meretz will have five seats in the next Knesset, down from the current 10. Channel 2, which relied on phone interviews in its poll, gives Meretz seven mandates; Channel 10 gives it eight.
Reacting to the news, Meretz leader Yossi Sarid announced he would resign his leadership "if this is the true result."
As news of the polls broke, party faithfuls in Tel Aviv reacted with a mixture of anger, disbelief, and tears. Some blamed small left-wing parties, like the pro-marijuana legalization Green Leaf Party, for drawing away support. Others blamed the secularist Shinui party, though there was also a sense of satisfaction at Shinui's good result.
Still others blamed the electorate generally. "This is a people for whom hatred is normal, for whom corruption is normal, for whom egoism is normal," said one party activist of Israelis, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This is not a normal people."
Her comments reflected an apparently widespread sense among Meretz activists that they are the only decent people in the country.
Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On, interviewed on Army Radio, said, "This constitutes a collapse of the peace camp... we didn't expect even as few as eight mandates."
The party's future is now uncertain. Supporters seemed to want a new social democratic party to be formed, along the lines proposed by former justice minister Yossi Beilin. Beilin, a recent addition to the party, was not sufficiently high on its list to win a seat in the Knesset.
Kind of makes it hard to appeal to voters when you consider them to be scum and you let them know that you consider them to be scum.
By the way, was Meretz's campaign slogan, "You are evil, so vote us"?
Just like the USA's left!
Watching self-hating leftists disintegrate and turn on each other is so satisfying.
The Party Party?
Okay, so I've had my Hebrew lesson for the day ...
"Meretz" means "Libertarian".
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