JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Likud Party launched official coalition talks a day after a new study found that most Israelis are dissatisfied with the election results.
A negotiating team appointed by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and led by lawmaker Gideon Sa’ar began formal coalition talks Wednesday afternoon, beginning with the Yisrael Beiteinu Party led by Avigdor Lieberman.
A study released Tuesday found that 17 percent of Israeli voters polled said they were satisfied with the election results, while 43 percent said they were dissatisfied. Thirty-five percent were found to be somewhere in between, with 5 percent unsure.
The survey, which conducted 600 telephone interviews Feb. 17-18 for The War and Peace Index, commissioned by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research and the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution of Tel Aviv University, also found that 90 percent would still vote for the same party.
The survey also found that 43 percent of Israelis defined themselves as right wing, 26 percent as center, 20 percent as left wing and the rest undecided.
When asked for their opinion on the Gaza offensive, 33 percent of respondents said they were disappointed, 36 percent said they were satisfied and 29 percent were unsure or neutral.
Some 77 percent of respondents said they supported linking the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas. The same percentage supported a prisoner swap, including Palestinian prisoners who were involved in the murder of Jews.
The survey has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
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