TEL AVIV, Jan 28: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud party swept to victory in the general election on Tuesday, paving the way for him to form a coalition government and press on with his tough line against the Palestinian uprising.

But he could face weeks of political wrangling to put together a stable coalition in a fragmented parliament.

Television polls after voting ended showed Likud winning 32 to 36 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and the centre-left Labour 17 to 19 seats, a dramatic decline for the party that blazed the trail of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

The centrist secular party Shinui (Change) made a big surge into third place, with a projected 14 to 17 seats, potentially gaining the “kingmaker” role historically held by ultra-Orthodox Jewish politicians.

Two hours before polls closed, election officials said turnout among the 4.7 million registered voters was one of the lowest in Israel’s history. Unofficial near-final results were due early on Wednesday.

President Moshe Katzav is now expected to ask Sharon, as the leader of the biggest party in parliament, to form a new government to tackle a deep economic crisis and the 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for an independent state.

The future of peacemaking with the Palestinians will be shaped largely by which parties the 74-year-old former general can lure into a coalition with him.

Sharon will have 28 days to form a government but can be given up to 14 more days if, as expected, he finds it difficult to build a coalition. If Sharon fails, Katzav will ask another party leader to form a government.

Although Sharon has not brought the peace and security he promised when elected in Feb 2001 — and few expect 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.

“Instead of peace and security, the sales pitch is ‘The people want Sharon’,” said Yoel Marcus, a prominent columnist with the liberal Ha’aretz newspaper.

Sharon has said painful concessions are needed to make peace but in his election campaign offered no new ideas for ending a conflict in which more than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed since Sept 2000.

The Palestinians, who are resisting nearly 36 years of Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, said Sharon’s re-election would bring more hardship.

“Sharon winning will only mean more destruction, more of our blood,” said Raed Qalaja, a taxi driver in Gaza City.

DAUNTING CHALLENGE: Sharon faces a daunting challenge trying to forge a stable coalition among rival parties which reflect not only divisions between the right- and left-wing but also the growing secular-versus-religious divide in Israeli society.