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Sharon sweeps back in power, Left collapses

REUTERS, Jerusalem
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party romped to re-election in Israel on a wave of support for his tough line with Palestinians, humiliating leftist parties that had pursued Middle East peace deals.
Greeted by flag-waving supporters who burst into song, Sharon claimed victory early yesterday and urged parties to join him in a broad coalition to meet the twin challenges of a possible Gulf war and what he called terrorism.
Labour Party leader Amram Mitzna conceded defeat in a telephone call to Sharon after voting ended Tuesday. Results showed Likud storming back into power, replacing Labour as the biggest party in parliament, as Israel swung to the right.
Labour endured its worst defeat in 54 years of Israeli history. It fell to 19 seats from 25 in the 120-member parliament, reflecting Israelis' fury at the party having put its faith in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to make peace.
Labour's former partner in peace moves, the leftist Meretz party, was shown winning six seats, down from 10, while Likud soared to 37, up
from 19 in the current Knesset.
"The victory and the crash" read the front-page headline in the masscirculation newspaper Maariv Wednesday.
Further underscoring divisions, the upstart Shinui party swept into third place, with 15 seats, up from six, on a pledge to deny ultraOrthodox Jewish parties their historical role as political power brokers able to demand state cash and benefits.
Although Sharon did not deliver the peace and security he promised when elected in February 2001 -and few expected him to do so now -- he flaunted his credentials as a veteran general and experienced politician to convince Israelis he was the best person to lead them through such troubled times.
"This is a heavy blow to a peaceful settlement. The Israelis have committed a historic mistake which they and the Palestinians will regret," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.
Sharon's campaign aide Lior Horev told Reuters that the 74-year-old prime minister would within three weeks forge a government of right-wing, religious and centrist parties that could give him up to 68
seats, a narrow majority, in parliament.
Flag-waving Likud supporters burst into song and screamed "Ariel, Ariel" at the party's headquarters. Downcast Labour supporters gasped in dismay as television projections were shown on a big screen at their headquarters.
"It is time to come together," Sharon said.
Turnout among the 4.7 million registered voters was the lowest for an Israeli general election -- 68.5 percent compared with an average of 78 to 80 percent. Israelis, having gone to the polls three times in four years, voiced weariness.
AFP adds, Israel's new third party, the centre-right Shinui, relaxed its conditions for joining a coalition with hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after his resounding election victory.
Shinui leader Tommy Lapid said the party was prepared to give ground on its staunchly secular principles and sit with its arch-foes from the ultra-Orthodox Shas party in a national emergency cabinet, at least temporarily.
"If a cabinet of national emergency is formed, Shinui could join it for a limited period," Lapid told
public radio.
Shinui's spectacular rise stems from its ability to attract most of the protest vote but also from its longtime opposition to the ultraOrthodox parties' hold on Israeli social and political life.
During the campaign, Lapid had categorically refused to join a coalition including religious parties.
According to official results published Wednesday, Shinui will have 15 seats in the next parliament, a massive increase on the six it won in the 1999 parliamentary elections.
Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party which draws its support from less privileged Jews of Middle Eastern origin, lost ground on its 17 seats in the outgoing parliament.
But it still managed 11 seats, leaving it a key factor in Sharon's efforts to form a new governing coalition.
The hardline premier appealed to centrist parties to join him in government in a sombre victory speech late Tuesday, as he sought to avoid being corralled in a narrow coalition with the far-right.