A senior aide to comatose Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said following Kadima’s elections victory earlyWednesday “we all support (Acting Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert wholeheartedly, but we are Sharon’s children.”
“Unfortunately he cannot be with us here for this wonderful celebration,” he added.
Kadima, established by Sharon just five months ago, won the majority of seats (28) in Tuesday’s elections for the 17th Knesset, but the joy was marred by Sharon’s continued hospitalization at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
“This is a sad day; he (Sharon) should have been here tonight to celebrate the victory of the party he formed,” a Sharon associate said.
'We do not know what the future holds'
Kadima Chairman Avigdor Yitzhaki said, “Arik, mission accomplished. I am sorry that he cannot see us now.”
Sharon fell into a coma after suffering a stroke last January; some of those close to the prime minister chose to be by his bedside on Elections Day.
“I prayed that he will open his eyes and witness this great day; a day we would not have come to without him,” one close associate said.
“I wanted him to see with his own eyes how his vision is being realized and how the party he had established is becoming a government.”
Another aide added, “We all support Olmert wholeheartedly, but we are Sharon’s children. We do not know what the future holds – whether Olmert will want to continue working with us – but this isn’t important. All career-related and other considerations are not important on this day. We all pray that Ariel Sharon will wake up.”