Final tally of the votes in Israel's general elections on Thursday gave Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party one more seat, bringing the total number of seats Kadima garnered to 29.

According to the final vote counts, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which came the third in the ballot, won 12 seats, one down from the 13 seats according to the initial tally while the center- right Likud party clinched one more seat, standing with 12.

The dovish Meretz rose from four to five seats, the far-right Yisrael Beitenu slipped to 11 seats, one less than the initial 12.

The three Israeli Arab parties won nine seats altogether, one down from the initial 10.

The seats of the center-left Labor party remained unchanged at 20, so did the National Religious Party/National Union with nine seats, the Pensioners Party, seven, and the religious United Torah Judaism, six.

The Election Commission announced that the changes of the seats were decided on the basis of the final tally of ballots cast by soldiers, prisoners and patients at hospitals.

Olmert's Kadima party, with the most seats in the 120-member Knesset (Parliament), is now engaged in the formation of a coalition government, with Labor and Shas as potential governing partners.

Hundreds of Thousands of Israelis headed to the polls on Tuesday in a general election set to redraw the map of Israel's politics and have massive impacts on the prospects of the Mideast peace process.

Source: Xinhua