NETANYAHU LEADS ISRAELI ELECTIONS WITHOUT MAJORITY: EXIT POLLS

Wed 24 March 2021:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party won the most parliamentary seats in Israel’s election Tuesday, according to exit polls, putting him within sight of securing a governing coalition and extending his tenure as the country’s longest-serving leader.

The exit poll results show that Israeli politics remain stalemated by a profound divide. Three previous elections in the past two years each failed to produce a functional government, and lawmakers again face a period of intense horse-trading as pro- and anti-Netanyahu forces try to cobble together a majority in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset.

Israeli Prime Minister and Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu thanked fellow citizens for the “huge victory” in parliamentary elections and added that the country needed a strong government.

“Citizens of Israel – thank you! You gave a huge victory to the right and to Likud under my leadership,” Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

He said citizens wanted a “strong and sustainable right-wing government” that would preserve Israel’s economy and security.

According to an exit poll by the KAN public broadcasting corporation, Netanyahu’s Likud party is leading in the elections to the Knesset with 31 mandates, while Yesh Atid is in second place with 18 mandates.

Netanyahu’s alliance garnered 53 seats, according to an average of early television exit polls, while a disparate collection of anti-Netanyahu parties won 57. If Netanyahu’s alliance of right-wing and religious parties is to retain power, that could depend on whether he can persuade one of his former coalition partners, former defense minister Naftali Bennett, to join him.

Bennett, a right-wing leader who broke with the prime minister to form his own party, might be able to give Netanyahu the margin he needs to secure a bare majority in the Knesset.

According to the results of exit polls announced late Tuesday by Israeli TV channel 13, Likud gained 31 seats and was ahead of the other parties but lacked the required majority.

It added that Netanyahu’s camp, comprising Likud and allied right-wing parties, gained 54 seats out of 120, while the opposition camp gained 59, with the right-wing Yamina party securing seven.

According to Channel 12, Netanyahu’s camp gained 53 seats, while the opposition camp won 59 and the Yamina party eight.

Channel 11 meanwhile said Netanyahu’s camp secured 54 seats, while the opposition camp gained 59, with the Yamina party winning seven.

The Joint List alliance of Arab parties led by Ayman Odeh gained eight seats according to both Channels 13 and 11, while it secured nine seats according to Channel 12.

The United Arab List headed by Mansour Abbas failed to pass the electoral threshold according to all of the channels, which represents a clear setback for the Arab lawmakers, who secured 15 seats in the previous Knesset.

This is the fourth time Israelis have voted in national elections in 23 months, a time of unprecedented political paralysis as the country has been buffeted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The unease may have benefited Netanyahu, who has been both blamed for the ravages of the virus and hailed for orchestrating one of the world’s fastest vaccination campaigns.

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