Arabs cheer after the elections in Israel

[oberliner]

Reporting from Umm Al Fahm, Israel -- The weather at Razi Elementary School was depressing -- a driving winter rain mixed with occasional hail that soaked prospective voters as soon as they stepped out of their cars.

Inside the school, local politicians fretted about the possibility of a record low turnout here in Israel's second-largest Arab city, and among Arab voters nationwide.On the streets, a protest against a right-wing Israeli politician serving as an election supervisor here briefly turned violent.

Farouk Mahajiny, an official of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, a party that includes Arabs and Jewish socialists and has three seats in the Knesset, or parliament, worried that participation here might not top 30%.

"This is a serious danger to all the Arab parties," Mahajiny said.

At the end of the day, however, Arab politicians said they were thrilled that exit polls indicated turnout of at least 50% -- close to the 56% who turned out in 2006 and enough to ensure that Arabs would keep their voice in the Knesset.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arab-vote11-2009feb11,0,7027404.story?track=rss

[ProgressiveMuslim]

1. "Voice in the Knesset?" That's rich.

Too bad Israel's moderates don't reach out to Arabs instead of disgusting racists.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Good to hear this - though even 50% is not full representation.