With 90% counted, Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats and Eisenkot’s 48. Arab parties won a record 19 seats.
Israel’s election remained deadlocked Wednesday, with the Central Elections Committee saying that with about 90% of ballots counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc was poised to win 53 seats and challenger Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc 48, both short of the 61 needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
The two predominantly Arab parties were set to win a record 19 seats, with their previous high at 15. Netanyahu’s bloc, made up of Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, fell from the 68 seats it held in the outgoing Knesset. Likud remained the largest party with 26 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s Yashar! with 21. His bloc also includes B’Yachad, Yair Golan’s The Democrats, with about eight seats, and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, with about seven. The results were not final, with ballots from soldiers, diplomats and others, known as double-envelope ballots, still to be counted, though they were not expected to change dramatically.
The Arab parties, the Joint List with 12 seats and Ra’am with seven, could be kingmakers. Eisenkot’s bloc and the Arab parties would together hold 67 seats. But Eisenkot, who said Israel chose change and reaffirmed his commitment to it, has said he wants a “Zionist government,” and there is opposition inside his bloc to relying on Arab parties. Liberman refused during the campaign to depend on them. Golan, a former deputy chief of staff, said Netanyahu lost and called for forming a government with Arab parties’ support. Arab voters turned out in record numbers, hoping to oust Netanyahu and his far-right allies.
A unity government of Netanyahu and Eisenkot appears unlikely, as Eisenkot has rejected serving under Netanyahu, including in a rotation arrangement. The deadlock could lead to another election, though the parties may still reach an agreement through coalition negotiations. The Eisenkot bloc was awaiting final results to decide its next move, sources told Israel Hayom. Netanyahu stays in office as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed.
(Update with the final count and the president’s coalition consultations.)
Information for this report was provided by the Times of Israel, CNN, Ynetnews, The Jerusalem Post and CNBC.
