After two failed tries to form a government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday declared a “gigantic victory” for his Likud party in Monday’s election, even as exit polls signaled he could yet struggle to form a majority coalition after the third election in a year.
Netanyahu vowed to quickly build a “strong national government,” seemingly referring to a coalition of right-wing and religious parties, but also said he would heal the nation’s rifts sown by three successive campaigns.
“Tomorrow, after we’ve got some sleep, we will meet [with right-wing leaders] to form a strong, stable government, a good national government for Israel,” said Netanyahu. “This was a great victory for the right-wing camp, and first and foremost a victory for us Likudnikim.”
The prime minister was met with deafening applause as he addressed a crowd of Likud supporters in Tel Aviv, who chanted his name and slogans of support. Some shouted “Mandelblit, go home,” in a reference to the attorney general who has indicted him on corruption charges, while others rejected the prospects of a unity government with Blue and White.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on track to win 59 seats for his bloc of right-wing and religious parties in Monday’s election, down by one from the 60 predicted by the initial exit polls. The new prediction leaves him two short of a majority in the Knesset.
The first polls indicated that Netanyahu’s Likud won 36-37 seats. Its allies in Shas, UTJ and Yamina won 9, 7-8 and 6-7 respectively. The polls showed Blue and White with 33 seats, its ally Labor-Gesher-Meretz 6-7, the Joint List 14-15 and Yisrael Beytenu 6-8.
When Channel 13 updated its numbers at around 1 a.m. Israel time, Gantz gained one seat to 34 and the blocs shifted slightly, leaving the right-wing with only 59 seats.
Channel 12 also updated its numbers, giving Likud 37 seats, Blue and White 32, Arab Joint List 15, Shas 9, Yisrael Beytenu 7, UTJ 7, Labor-Gesher-Meretz 7 and Yamina 6.
However, by 4am, Kan News had Likud on 36 seats and Blue and White on 33, with the right bloc holding a total of 59.
The numbers are expected to change overnight. The votes of soldiers, who tend to lean to the right, have not yet been counted and the Joint List tends to go down a seat when the soldiers’ votes are added. But, if the Right does not obtain its 61st seat, it could end up being because the far-right Otzma Yehudit refused Netanyahu’s repeated requests to quit the race.
The outright victory in the third election in under a year is expected to enable Netanyahu to quickly form a right-wing coalition after having headed a caretaker government since December 2018.
The high turnout in the country’s unprecedented third election in under a year showed no signs of voter apathy, as citizens cast ballots in an attempt to end the political stalemate.
As polls closed at 10 p.m. Monday after the third Knesset election within a year, three television exit polls predicted significant gains for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, putting it within a hair’s breadth of forming a governing coalition, with centrist rival Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party falling well below its performance in the past years’ two previous elections.
“A huge victory for Israel,” Netanyahu tweeted shortly after the polls came out.
According to the exit polls, the right-wing bloc — made up of Netanyahu’s Likud party, the religious right-wing Yamina, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism — will get 60 seats in the 120-member parliament. The center-left bloc, minus Yisrael Beytenu, is forecast to win 52-54 seats.
Likud was predicted to get between 36 and 37 seats in the three polls, making it the biggest party and overtaking Blue and White, which was predicted to fall below Likud in all three exit polls, with 32-33 seats.
Rumors had been swirling in the hours leading up to the exit polls that Blue and White was poised to suffer a stinging defeat. They were apparently based on leaks from early exit poll results, as well as from officials in various parties.
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