First round is over!
The vote count is:
Collette Avital: 21
Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin: 37
Shimon Peres: 58
The newscasters were talking very often about how it would be a big shock if Peres lost again....and they were asking MKs how they voted.
The most interesting I found was what they asked Shaul Mofaz. They asked him who he voted for and he answered for Peres. Then they asked him how it is possible that a year ago there was no way he would have voted for Peres who was part of Labor and he was part of Likud, yet now he voted Peres?
He waffled a bit and then said that what was a year ago was a year ago and things have changed.
It is a shocker how poor of a showing Ruby actually came out with.
Now it goes to a second round, but it looks like Peres will walk away with the vote...
UPDATE:
Ruby Rivlin withdrew his candidacy. Shimon Peres is now officially the 9th President of Israel.
Technically, he's not president until the next vote, so we have a few more hours without President Peres.
ReplyDeleteI know. I thought about writing that the Knesset can still vote with 61 votes "No" to Peres and he can still lose. But it is unlikely so I left it out...
ReplyDeleteIn any event, since the president has no real power, there's no practical difference between "almost-president-elect", "president-elect", and "president."
ReplyDelete