In the event, it was more of an earth tremor than the predicted earthquake, a mere 4.5 on the political Richter scale in the view of Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper. Kadima, the new party conjured up by the stricken Ariel Sharon to set permanent borders for an expanded Israel, came first in Tuesday's elections, but with 28 out of the Knesset's 120 seats rather than overblown forecasts of up to 45 seats. Israel's fractious political spectrum has splintered even more. That will make the country more difficult to govern. But it may also inhibit the new government from taking territorial decisions that would make Israel's conflict with the Palestinians even more insoluble.

However vital for the future, this election, marked by voter lassitude and low turn-out, was not the referendum on the future of the occupied West Bank and Israel's future borders that Ehud Olmert, Kadima leader, former mayor of Jerusalem and new prime minister, had anticipated. Instead, a cacophony of parties representing Rabbis and Russians, old-age pensioners and lifelong pensioners, have all seen their positions reinforced.