Jerusalem
CNN
—
Benjamin Netanyahu appears headed for a bigger win in Israel’s fifth election in less than four years than initial exit polls suggested. predicted.
His Likud party and its allies are now projected to win 65 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, with 86% of the vote tallied as of Wednesday afternoon Israeli time.
Netanyahu’s Likud, the Jewish nationalist religious Zionist/Jewish power bloc, the Shas, and the United Torah Judaic coalition will, on paper, be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.
Current Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his allies appear to be on track to win 50 seats. An Arab alliance called Hadash Tal-Luk is projected to win five seats, making it unlikely that either Netanyahu or Rapid will endorse leading the country.
Turnout was 71.3%, according to the Central Election Commission. According to the commission, this is his highest since 2015 and higher than any of his four previous elections (2019-2021) and has produced either a stalemate or a short-lived government. .
Since the first exit polls on Tuesday night, a left-wing party called Meretz appears to have fallen below the 3.25% threshold for winning a seat in the Knesset. If the party manages to win enough referendums to take a seat in parliament, the end result could change.
These are not final results. One of his five votes across the country has yet to be counted. The final results could come later on Wednesday, but could take until Thursday.
Netanyahu’s return to power would bring about fundamental changes in Israeli society. It includes the newly ascending Jewish nationalist Religious Zionism/Jewish Power Alliance, led by Itamar Ben Guvir, who was once convicted of inciting racism and supporting terrorism. included.
And Netanyahu’s allies are discussing changes to the judicial system. This could put an end to Netanyahu’s own corruption trial, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
Netanyahu himself was one of the main issues not only in Tuesday’s election, but also in the four elections that preceded it, with voters and politicians wanting the man popularly known as Bibi in power. They were divided into camps based on what they were doing.
One of the reasons it has been difficult to build a stable government in the last four elections is that even political parties that agreed with Netanyahu have refused to work with him for personal or political reasons. is.
It will take some time to get official results. It could be ready on Wednesday, but it could be Thursday before the final composition of Israel’s 25th Knesset is revealed.
One reason is that each political party must receive at least 3.25% of the total votes cast to win a seat in the Knesset.
To determine the number of seats each party wins, election officials must first determine which parties have crossed the threshold. Then calculate the number of votes needed to win her one seat in the Knesset and distribute the seats to each party based on the number of votes won.
