Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fell short of securing a parliamentary majority with his religious and nationalist allies in national elections on Tuesday.
Initial results posted by Israel’s three major stations showed challenger the centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz is projected to win between 32 and 34 seats, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party 31 to 33 seats, the BBC reported.
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Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman may end up being the kingmaker.
Netanyahu called the snap vote after failing to form a governing coalition in the wake of an election in April.
Israeli exit polls are often imprecise, and final results will be expected on Wednesday which could still swing in Netanyahu’s favour. But all three stations predicted a similar outcome.
Channel 12 News put Blue and White ahead with 34 seats and Likud with 33, while Channel 13 News predicted that Blue and White would win 33 seats and Likud 31.
There was a muted response at Likud’s election night headquarters in Tel Aviv as the exit polls were released. Hundreds of chairs for party supporters remained empty, as activists were kept outside the hall and leaders digested the numbers.
A Likud spokesman noted that Israeli exit polls had got things wrong in the past. Last time, they underestimated the number of votes for Likud and also for some of the religious parties allied to Netanyahu.
The two main parties’ campaigns in Israel’s second parliamentary election in five months point to only narrow differences on many important issues, the regional struggle against Iran, ties with the Palestinians and the United States, and the stable economy.
Meanwhile, the latest opinion polls on Monday night showed that Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party was neck and neck with its main challenger, the centrist Blue and White party led by former military chief Benny Gantz.
Last week, Netanyahu declared that he would “apply Israeli sovereignty” in the Jordan Valley if he won a record fifth term in office. The announcement amounted to a promise to effectively annex 30 per cent of the occupied West Bank, which Palestinians want to be part of a future state.
