JERUSALEM, Sept 18 (NNN-MA’AN) – Israel’s closely-fought elections ended on Tuesday night, with exit polls showing a virtual tie between the Likud party, led by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Blue and White party, led by former army chief, Benny Gantz.
Exit poll results showed the Blue and White party in a slim majority over Likud, winning about 33 seats against Likud’s 32.
It seemed that both parties would fail to garner enough seats with their allies, to gain a majority in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, to form a government.
The results suggested both parties would need the support of Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Israel Our Home party, to form a ruling coalition.
Lieberman, the kingmaker in Israeli elections, called for forming a unity government that will include his own party and Israel’s two largest parties, the rightwing Likud party and the centrist Blue and White party.
Addressing his supporters at his party’s headquarters, Lieberman said, he would agree that his own faction will stay outside the coalition, if it brings the Likud party and the Blue and White party together.
Lieberman urged Gantz and Netanyahu to publicly announce they would support a unity government.
He appealed to President Reuven Rivlin to summon Gantz and Netanyahu on Friday for “an informal talk” about forming a possible unity government.
The negotiations on forming a coalition government will be very complicated, as the three political blocs are uncompromising on certain issues, which indicates that the political deadlock that Netanyahu faced in the wake of the April elections could be repeated.
The poll results cast doubt on Netanyahu’s decade-long rule, as his Likud party fails to secure a 61-seat majority in the Knesset.
Netanyahu, the longest-serving Israeli prime minister, is also facing serious corruption allegations and possible indictments.
Israelis cast their ballots on Tuesday, for the second time in five months, after Netanyahu called for the snap elections, in the wake of his failure to form a governing coalition, following the April elections.
All the exit polls suggested that, the far-right party, Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power in Hebrew, did not pass the electoral threshold.
Meanwhile, Israel’s main Arab political alliance, Joint List, seemed to become Israel’s third largest party, in a “historic” win for the Arab minority.
Exit polls indicated that the Joint List won 11-13 seats in the Knesset.
Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List, a faction composed of four Arab and Arab-Jewish parties, said that, if the official results will match the polls, it shows that “the Arab voters prevented Netanyahu from establishing a government, after he incited so much against them.”
In a series of remarks, widely condemned as incitement, Netanyahu “warned” his supporters of high Arab turnout.
Arab citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of Israel’s nine million population, often complain about discrimination and racism by the Jewish majority.– NNN-MA’AN