The bloc of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the parliamentary elections, but fell short of the majority needed to govern. The right-wing and far-right coalition won 53 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, while the opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, took 48 seats. A majority of 61 seats is needed.
The Likud remained the largest single party with 27 seats. Eisenkot's “Yashar“ won 21 seats, “B’Yahad“ won 12, and the United List – 11. The “Democrats” and Raam each have eight seats. “Israel Beitenu”, “United Torah Judaism” and “Otzma Yehudit” each have seven seats, while Shas and “Religious Zionism” each have six.
Arab parties become a key factor
Raam and the United List have a combined 19 seats – the strongest showing by Arab parties to date. Their MPs could tip the scales in favor of the opposition, but forming such a coalition is politically difficult, as some opposition parties have already ruled out cooperation with Arab parties.
Eizenkot accused Likud of trying to delegitimize the election result. "They are doing this because they lost," he said. Netanyahu, for his part, called on his allies to form a "right-wing, nationalist government" and rejected the possibility that it would rely on Arab parties.
Investigation into alleged irregularities
The Shin Bet is investigating allegations of alleged foreign interference and irregularities related to the vote. However, the Israeli Election Commission said the widespread allegations of systematic irregularities were unfounded and would not affect the results. "This does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the president, nor does it concern a specific segment of the population," said the commission's acting director general, Dean Livni.
The voter turnout was 77.9 percent, with 5,716,665 votes cast. The distribution of seats has already been announced, but the official results are due to be handed over to President Yitzhak Herzog on November 4 after the procedures for reviewing complaints and technical errors are completed. The new Knesset is due to be sworn in on November 10.
After receiving the results, Herzog will hold consultations with the leaders of the parliamentary parties and assign a member of parliament to try to form a government. Negotiations could last weeks. If no candidate manages to secure support, Israel could face new elections.
Sources: bta.bg, apnews.com, timesofisrael.com