Israel’s fourth vote sees majority uncertainty; numbers continue shifting
Netanyahu claims Likud election win
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory following Israel's fourth election in less than two years but the deeply divisive leader may again struggle to form a governing majority.
Projections based on exit polls from Israel's three leading broadcasters, which could change, all show Netanyahu's right-wing Likud winning the most seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset.
If the projections reflect the final results expected later this week, Likud could win 30 or 31 seats. Adding Likud's hawkish, religious allies, the pro-Netanyahu camp could control more than 50 seats. But his only path to a viable right-wing coalition appears to rest on a deal with his estranged former protege Naftali Bennett, who has not ruled out joining a bloc opposed to the premier.
Netanyahu described Tuesday's projected results as a "huge win for the right" and his Likud party. "I will reach out to all elected officials who share our principles. I will not exclude anyone," he told supporters.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former television anchor whose centrist Yesh Atid party looked set to place a second behind Likud, claimed the anti-Netanyahu bloc had a path to a majority. "At the moment, Netanyahu doesn't have 61 seats," he said addressing supporters in Tel Aviv.
Numbers were continuing to shift early Wednesday and it remained possible that Netanyahu would fall short of a majority even with Bennett's support. Lapid said he has "started speaking to party leaders and we'll wait for the results but we'll do everything to create a sane government in Israel."
Even if Bennett's projected seven seats technically enable Netanyahu to cobble together a government, there is no guarantee the two will unite.
They were once close and maintain hawkish ideological links, but their relationship has grown strained in recent years.
"The power you gave me, I will use only according to one guideline: What is good for Israel," Bennett, a religious nationalist, told supporters at a rally after the results were announced.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for the Israeli parliamentary elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem, Wednesday, March. 24, 2021. Photo: VCG
Netanyahu, Israel's longest serving premier, had hoped that Tuesday's vote would finally allow him to unite a right-wing coalition behind him, after three inconclusive elections since 2019. He campaigned on a world-leading coronavirus vaccination effort that has already inoculated roughly half of Israel's nine million people, a pace envied by much of the world.Projections based on exit polls from Israel's three leading broadcasters, which could change, all show Netanyahu's right-wing Likud winning the most seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset.
If the projections reflect the final results expected later this week, Likud could win 30 or 31 seats. Adding Likud's hawkish, religious allies, the pro-Netanyahu camp could control more than 50 seats. But his only path to a viable right-wing coalition appears to rest on a deal with his estranged former protege Naftali Bennett, who has not ruled out joining a bloc opposed to the premier.
Netanyahu described Tuesday's projected results as a "huge win for the right" and his Likud party. "I will reach out to all elected officials who share our principles. I will not exclude anyone," he told supporters.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former television anchor whose centrist Yesh Atid party looked set to place a second behind Likud, claimed the anti-Netanyahu bloc had a path to a majority. "At the moment, Netanyahu doesn't have 61 seats," he said addressing supporters in Tel Aviv.
Numbers were continuing to shift early Wednesday and it remained possible that Netanyahu would fall short of a majority even with Bennett's support. Lapid said he has "started speaking to party leaders and we'll wait for the results but we'll do everything to create a sane government in Israel."
Even if Bennett's projected seven seats technically enable Netanyahu to cobble together a government, there is no guarantee the two will unite.
They were once close and maintain hawkish ideological links, but their relationship has grown strained in recent years.
"The power you gave me, I will use only according to one guideline: What is good for Israel," Bennett, a religious nationalist, told supporters at a rally after the results were announced.
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