Winning the most seats in Tuesday's general elections on a platform of more pullouts, Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party has been engaged in the process of forming a new coalition government.

Analysts believe that although Kadima might face a bumpy road in stitching together a coalition, it seems determined to push through more withdrawals from the West Bank.

Despite the election victory, Kadima only managed to garner 29 seats in the 120-member Knesset (Parliament), far less than the previously predicted 35 to 40 seats.

"It is a troubling time for the Kadima party because it did not fulfill its ambition to receive a large number of mandates," said Yaron Ezrahi, Professor of Political Science at Hebrew University.

"The current situation, however, finds Olmert in a weaker position to negotiate and take his picks from coalition partners, and the acting prime minister might have to hand ministerial positions to other parties in exchange for their support," he added.

Nonetheless, the possibility of forming a coalition with other parties who support Olmert's withdrawal plan remains within reach, he continued.

Olmert, taking over the helm of Kadima since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was felled by a Jan. 4 major stroke, has already announced his intention to draw the final borders with the Palestinians within four years by quitting isolated settlements in the West Bank and expanding bigger ones.

The party with the second highest number of mandates was the left-wing Labor party, which got 20 seats. But wooing Labor into a coalition with Kadima will come with a high price, said analysts.

Labor chairman Amir Peretz has shown interest in the portfolios of the ministers of finance and education, which Olmert has explicitly said will remain under Kadima's control.

Peretz, whose party ran on a socioeconomic platform, has said that those two ministries are vital for achieving Labor's campaign promises of an improved education system, higher minimum wage and a better health basket for all citizens.

But Peretz has also been deemed a strong partner for advancing more withdrawals from the West Bank.

"It is vital for Israel, as quickly as possible, to begin to establish its final shape," Peretz said a week prior to the elections. The statements bear a striking similarity with Olmert's repeated promises to "set the final borders for Israel."

Although not ruling out communicating with moderate elements in the Palestinian National Authority and being the first Israeli politician to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas won the January parliamentary elections, Peretz has also agreed that unilateral steps might be necessary if Hamas cannot be negotiated with.

Kadima will have to bring one or two other parties, besides Labor, into its government in a bid to achieve a majority in the parliament, necessary for approvals of any pullouts.

Analysts expect Olmert to bring in the left-wing Meretz party, which has five seats, and the Pensioners Party, seven seats, which will then reach the 61 threshold for the majority, considering that the two parties have said that they will not oppose a withdrawal plan.

Other potential coalition partners, such as Shas and United Torah Judaism, are also likely to request posts of ministries such as the Ministry of Housing or the Ministry of Welfare.

The center-right Likud party, which Sharon and Olmert quit to form Kadima last November, seems unlikely to join Kadima's cabinet. Likud won only 12 seats in the elections.

"Nothing can be said 100 percent, but it appears fairly clear that Likud will be an opposition party," said one Likud official.

Kadima officials said that it was all a number game concerning which type of coalition Kadima would form to best serve its needs.

Currently, Kadima has expressed interest in bringing the right- wing Israel Our Home party to the coalition. The party, backed by Russian immigrants, has said that it can, under certain circumstances, support further withdrawals, but is considered much more conservative on security issues than the Labor party.

Israel Our Home surprisingly won 11 seats in the ballot, but its leaders and Labor leaders have publicly said that the two parties are not compatible.

Olmert might also bring in the religious parties such as the National Union-National Religious party to form a more right- leaning coalition.

But such a coalition, said Kadima officials, would make it much more difficult for Olmert to undertake the withdrawal plan that he had proposed in the campaign.

The March 28 elections witnessed the lowest voter turnout in Israeli history, which helped boost many smaller parties.

A number of parties got 5 to 12 seats, making the formation of a coalition more complex and allowing for more variations of the coalition led by Kadima, but the next Israeli cabinet headed by the new centrist party seems unlikely to go back on its withdrawal plan, said analysts.

Israel pulled out from the entire Gaza Strip and northern West Bank last summer, the first such withdrawal for the Jewish state.

Olmert has been a staunch supporter of the Gaza pullout and most of the Israelis also favored the move.

Source: Xinhua