“He acted as a spokesperson for the government. So he behaved in a way that people expect someone who is trying to become the next Prime Minister to behave in times of a national crisis,” says Prof. Tamar Hermann from Tel Aviv University.

The election results are far from over. As many as one in three Israelis say they don’t know who they’re going to vote for – and many of them are Russian speakers.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the third contender for Prime Minister, spent the last day of campaigning speaking only to the Russian media. Some political advisors are going a step further and encouraging their candidates to use language from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s speeches.

Television journalist Vladimir Bader says it all started when a poll was published, asking who the best Prime Minister for Israel was, and Vladimir Putin was put among the names.

“Putin came out on top in this poll. Some political advisors understood that Vladimir Putin has a certain popularity among Russian Israelis and have advised some politicians, especially Defence Minister Ehud Barak, to use some sentences from Putin's speeches in order to increase their popularity with the Russian voters,” said Vladimir Bader, adding, “Ehud Barak used Putin’s sentence ”to flush terrorists down the toilet“ during his campaign.”

However, on Tuesday the fight for Israel’s leadership is just the beginning, as whoever wins will almost certainly have to face another round of coalition-building and promise-making.