Likud tops early results, but race for power remains unresolved
Netanyahu pushes for new right-wing government as rivals challenge his rule
Netanyahu’s opponents promise a new direction for the country
Eisenkot warns Netanyahu against exploiting war for political gain
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party led the early parliamentary election count Wednesday with 24.1% of the vote, followed by former Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party with 16.1 percent, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.
The Central Elections Committee had counted 956,458 votes, representing 16.8 percent of the ballots cast, the newspaper said.
The Together alliance led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett followed with 8.8 percent. The Joint List received 5.9% and the United Arab List (Ra’am) 2.7 percent.
Figures from two ultra-Orthodox parties allied with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled openness early on Wednesday to cooperating with the opposition as exit polls left both rival blocs short of a parliamentary majority.
An unnamed official from the Shas party suggested that it could join a government led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot at a later stage, provided that it accepted the terms of a military conscription law, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.
The official said Eisenkot should initially leave the ministerial posts important to Shas vacant, adding that the party might join later if a “reasonable” conscription law were introduced.
Separately, Yitzhak Goldknopf of the United Torah Judaism alliance declined to rule out cooperation with Eisenkot’s bloc.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he will form a new government after a close election.
"We must put in place a strong government of the right," Netanyahu told supporters.
"The Jewish and Zionist majority must unite," Netanyahu said. "It is out of the question to have a government that is backed by Arab parties."
The speech, delivered after 0100 GMT, was short by Netanyahu's standards, noting that his Likud was projected to be the largest single party.
Updated exit polls by Israel’s public broadcaster and Channel 13 put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition bloc led by former Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot level at 51 seats each early Wednesday, with 18 seats for Arab parties.
Both projections left the rival blocs short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
Channel 13 projected that Likud would remain the largest party, with 27 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s Yashar party with 23 and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Together alliance with 13.
Mansour Abbas, the leader of the United Arab List (Ra’am), said that he hoped his party and Israel’s opposition bloc could together secure the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“I hope we can change this government and that the numbers add up to 61 seats, the opposition bloc together with Ra’am,” Abbas told Israel’s Channel 12.
“With the numbers we have now, there is no government,” he said.
Israeli opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has declared that voters have chosen change and rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as exit polls indicate no clear winner in the country's parliamentary elections.
"The Israeli public has voted for change and against Netanyahu," Eisenkot said, pledging to do everything possible to fulfil the wishes of the electorate.
His remarks came as initial exit polls put his bloc ahead of Netanyahu's, although neither was projected to secure the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
Israel’s public broadcaster described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as already “a major loser” as exit polls put his bloc behind its rival’s and opposition leaders pledged to replace his government.
“It is still unclear who won the election, but there is already a major loser: Netanyahu,” the broadcaster said in the headline of an analysis.
Netanyahu began calling coalition party leaders after the initial projections, according to Israeli media. His Likud party asked members to suspend media interviews, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Turnout in Israel’s parliamentary elections reached 77.7 percent on Tuesday, the highest since 1999, the Central Elections Committee said, as exit polls projected historic gains for Arab parties.
The committee said participation was up 7.1 percentage points from the 2022 election.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported an 80 percent turnout among Arab voters. Its exit poll projected 18 seats for Arab parties in the 120-seat Knesset compared with 52 for the bloc led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot and 50 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc.
Neither bloc was projected to win the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
A separate Channel 13 exit poll gave Eisenkot’s bloc 53 seats, Netanyahu’s bloc 50 and Arab parties 17.
Channel 12 also reported that President Isaac Herzog was expected to task Eisenkot with forming the next government, although the decision would depend on the official results and parliamentary parties’ recommendations.
Vote counting began after polls closed at 10 pm local time (2000GMT). Exit polls are projections, not official election results.
Likud tops early results, but race for power remains unresolved
Netanyahu pushes for new right-wing government as rivals challenge his rule
Netanyahu’s opponents promise a new direction for the country
Eisenkot warns Netanyahu against exploiting war for political gain
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