Right-Religious coalition crushed in Israel

[Nathan Newman]

Along with the landslide defeat of Netayanu, the Right parties appear to
have lost significant ground.  If the exit polls hold up, the religious
parties held their ground at about 24 seats (although power shifted to the
more moderate, Sephardic ethnic grouping around Shas, rather than the harder
ultra-orthodox parties), but Likud appears to have sunk to just 18 out of
120 Knesset seats, with only 3 seats for the ultra-right nationalists.

About 13 seats are going to centrist and Russian immigrant parties.

This leaves 33 seats for One Israel (Labor and direct allies), 10 for
left-leaning Meretz, 9 for two other left-leaning new parties, and 7 seats
for the Arab parties.

Note this latter grouping is almost half of the Knesset seats all by itself,
although there is little question that Barak will include the Centrist and
Russian immigrant parties in his government as well.

--Nathan