With 97 percent of the vote counted, it looks like opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing conservative Likud party will emerge victorious in Israel’s parliamentary elections. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition managed to secure a majority of 65 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, Israeli media reported. The final result is not expected until Thursday.
Likud emerged as the largest party, winning 31 seats. The liberal Future Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jair Lapid took second place with 24 seats. The turnout was relatively high at 71.3 percent. It was the fifth ballot in Israel in just 3.5 years.
A beaming Netanyahu gave a speech at his party headquarters on Tuesday evening. “We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel,” it said before a cheering crowd. “We are on the brink of a very big win.”
Right-wing religious coalition
Netanyahu hopes to make a political comeback after more than a year in opposition. With his conservative Likud appearing to emerge as the largest party, Netanyahu could form a coalition with other parties counted as part of his camp, also drawing on far-right parties.
However, a small Arab party may still throw a spanner in the works: if it gets enough votes for the electoral threshold, the proportions will change and Netanyahu’s bloc may just fall short of the required 61 seats for a majority. The final result – which is expected on Thursday – should provide a definitive answer
Comeback
Netanyahu, now 73, was prime minister in the 1990s, and later also between 2009 and last year. It earned him the title of longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history. He has also been involved in several corruption cases for years. Supporters see this as a witch hunt. According to them, Netanyahu is the only leader who can ensure political stability.
The current governing coalition is made up of both left-wing and right-wing parties, united mainly in their dislike of the former prime minister. That anti-Netanyahu coalition lost its narrow majority in parliament earlier this year and failed to regain it.
Commenting on the results, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said “the rise of far-right religious parties in Israeli elections” reflects “an increase in extremism and racism in Israeli society, which has plagued our people for years.”