An Israeli soldier casts her ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem, March 28, 2006. Projections by Israel's three main TV stations showed acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima Party winning Israel's election Tuesday, falling short of expectations, but placing him in a position to form a center-left coalition. The center-left Labor Party, a likely coalition partner for Olmert, came in a strong second.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert casts his ballot in the Israeli general election in Jerusalem Tuesday, March 28, 2006. The apparent winner later slipped a note of thanks into the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, and then read prayers.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the right-wing Israeli Likud Party, sings the Israeli national anthem at the party's election center in Tel Aviv, late Tuesday March 28, 2006. Netanyahu conceded defeat in the Israeli elections after exit poll projections gave Likud just 12 seats in the the 120-member parliament.
Israeli Labor Party supporters celebrate as the first exit polls were announced at the party headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 28, 2006. Projections showed acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima Party winning Israel's election, placing him in a position to form a center-left coalition. The center-left Labor Party, a likely coalition partner for Olmert, came in a strong second.
A Likud party supporter reacts as he watches the first exit polls on television, at the party's election center in Tel Aviv, March 28, 2006. The Likud, which dominated Israeli politics for three decades and opposes a plan to withdraw from much of the West Bank, came in distant fourth, according to the polls.
An Israeli Arab woman casts her ballot during voting in general elections at a polling station in the northern Israeli town of Nazareth, Tuesday, March 28, 2006. Israelis voted Tuesday in a historic election billed as a referendum on the future of the West Bank, with the leading candidate, acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, promising to pull back from most of the territory and draw Israel's final borders by 2010.
A Jewish settler reads a sign with the details of all the political parties participating in the Israeli general election at a polling station in the West bank settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron Tuesday, March 28, 2006. Israelis voted Tuesday in a historic election billed as a referendum on the future of the West Bank.
Backdropped graffiti depicts the main contenders of the upcoming Israeli elections, as a street performer dressed as a British police officer poses during a pre-election happening in Rabin Square, in downtown Tel Aviv, Monday March 27, 2006. Israelis will vote in general elections Tuesday.
A poster of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is hung at the Kadima party's temporary headquarters in an Israeli TV studio outside Jerusalem, March 27, 2006. The Kadima Party dropped in polls a day before Israel's elections, a sign that acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert might have difficulty forming a coalition that will back his plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and draw Israel's final borders by 2010.
A worker stands by ballot boxes at the headquarters of the Israeli Elections Committee, near the central Israeli town of Shoham, Monday March 27, 2006. Israelis will vote in general elections Tuesday.
An Israeli soldier prepares his ballot before casting it at a mobile army polling station at a military outpost in Kerem Shalom, on the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip, Monday, March 27, 2006. Israeli soldiers scheduled to be on duty on Tuesday, when Israel goes to the polls in a general election, began voting Sunday.
Right wing demonstrators carry banners calling on Jerusalem to vote for the right during a protest against a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to the Machaneh Yehuda market in Jerusalem, Monday, March 27, 2006, the day before Israelis vote in a general election, with candidates making a last-ditch effort to win over voters amid fears of an unprecedented low turnout.
Acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office Sunday, March 26, 2006. As candidates in this week's general election made a last-ditch effort to win over voters amid fears of low turnout, Olmert said in an interview that he would get U.S. backing for further unilateral West Bank withdrawals before pushing forward with plans to draw Israel's final borders by 2010.
Media members and security guards surround the leader of the right-wing Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu, center, as he visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City Monday, March 27, 2006. Israelis will vote in general elections Tuesday.
Israeli Labor Party leader Amir Peretz hands out carnations to supporters as he walks in a central boulevard in Tel Aviv Monday, March 27, 2006. Israelis are voting in general elections Tuesday.
Pictures of ailing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and acting Prime Minister and head of Kadima party, Ehud Olmert, decorate the hall, as an man attends an election campaign rally in the northern town of Kiryat Motzkin, Israel, Sunday, March 26, 2006. Israelis are going to the polls March 28.
An Israeli Orthodox Jew hangs elections campaign posters of the Israeli Shas party, with the image of its leader, Eli Yishai, on a fence near to the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh Sunday, March 26, 2006. Israelis will vote in general elections March 28 and candidates made a last-ditch effort to win over voters amid fears of an unprecedented low turnout in Tuesday's election.
Veteran Israeli statesman Shimon Peres of the Kadima party attends an election campaign rally in the northern town of Kiryat Motzkin, Israel, Sunday, March 26, 2006. Israeli general elections are scheduled for next Tuesday March 28.
Activists of the religious Shas party work the phones, calling voters to cast their ballots for their party in the general election, at the party headquarters in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 26, 2006. Israeli general elections are scheduled for next Tuesday March 28. The poster on the table shows Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.