Forward At A Standstill

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon didn't feel all that comfortable with the lack of enthusiastic support for his actions in his political party, Likud. He went ahead and left that party to start his own - the Kadima (Forward) party. He collected members of various parties from all sides of the political spectrum to join his party. According to polls he is to win the upcoming election in March. But two days ago, Wednesday, he suffered a massive stroke.

It is no secret that the force behind Kadima is Ariel Sharon and no one else. Although some people in his party are also popular politicians, they do not have the same personality as Sharon. So where is the party headed now? With no real leader to lead the party to elections, afterall, Sharon never set guidelines for the new party nor what it would support and/or oppose. Has Kadima ground to a halt as a result of Sharon's stroke?

Kadima is still quite popular in the polls. If Shimon Peres were to lead the party in March they would win 42 seats in the parliament; 40 if it was lead by Ehud Olmert; and only 26 for Shaul Mofaz. But is this poll based on sympathetic people who might themselves not be so symathetic in March? If that is the case then Kadima doesn't have much of a chance of survival; the party itself suffered a stroke, its brain isn't functioning properly and that affects the entire party.

Sharon will probably never again be able to involve himself in politics the way he has before, supposing he survives the current crisis. However, that doesn't neccessarily spell doom for Kadima. If he survives and his speech and mind can still function, that might be enough to get the party moving forward again. And although he won't actually be there running the show, he will definitely be behind the scenes controlling the party and leading it where he wants it to go. But the chances of that happening aren't that high. I just wonder if all the other political parties will be willing to reaccept the Kadima politicians after they backstabbed their original parties, and tried to undermine them.