Israel's parliamentary elections did not produce a clear winner with nearly 90% of the ballots counted. The bloc around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to receive 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot is forecast to receive 48 seats. At least 61 MPs are needed to form a government.
The Israeli Central Election Commission reported that more than 5 million votes have been counted. More than 500,000 ballots still remain in special double envelopes. They contain the votes of military personnel, diplomats and other voters who voted outside their registered polling stations. These ballots could change the distribution of seats.
Arab parties could prove decisive
The projections show that the Arab parties "United List" and Ra'am could win a total of 19 seats - a record result. The high turnout among Arab voters is proving to be an important factor in the fact that neither of the two main political blocs will achieve a parliamentary majority.
The leader of the "United List" Youssef Jabarin said that the coalition could support an anti-Netanyahu government from the outside, but would not enter it. Earlier, Eisenkot ruled out the possibility of a minority cabinet with the support of Arab parties, and Netanyahu also rejected such an option.
“This is the difficult task entrusted to us by the voters - to bring change to Israel and form a Zionist mobilization government“, Eisenkot wrote.Netanyahu to remain prime minister until cabinet formed
The final results could be announced as early as Thursday evening, but preliminary data do not expect an automatic formation of a governing majority. Netanyahu will remain prime minister with a caretaker cabinet until a new government is formed.
After the official results are published, President Yitzhak Herzog will begin consultations with the leaders of the parties represented in parliament. He called on political forces to avoid new elections that would delay the formation of a government.
Since Netanyahu's bloc is expected to be the largest, analysts have suggested a national unity government, which could include Eisenkot. However, this scenario has not been confirmed.
The Likud party accused Arab parties of "stealing" the elections and said it was handing over evidence of alleged violations at Arab polling stations to the police, the Shin Bet and the Central Election Commission. The published information does not indicate that these allegations have been confirmed by the competent authorities.
Sources: aljazeera.com