JERUSALEM, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc appears to have failed to secure a parliamentary majority in Monday’s general election.
With 99% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party was on track to win 36 seats, and allied right-wing and religious parties another 22.
That would leave them three short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
Likud is encouraging defections from the rival centrist Blue and White alliance, which is set to win 33 seats.
The nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party could also tip the balance with its seven seats, although it has ruled out joining a Likud-led coalition that includes religious parties.
The Joint List representing Israel’s Arab minority is set to come third with 15 seats.
The election was Israel’s third in less than a year. Neither of the main party leaders was able to command a majority following the last two rounds.
Netanyahu, 70, is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister. He is seeking a record fifth term, having been in office from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009.
Likud officials are looking to bring in defectors from rival parties to get the 61 seats they need for a majority.
A spokesman for Netanyahu, Jonathan Urich, said they had been in contact with four to six lawmakers from “the other side”, but declined to name them.
Blue and White’s Moshe Yaalon, a former Likud minister, was confident that his colleagues would reject the overtures.
Netanyahu is due in court on March 17 to face charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in connection with three separate cases.
He is alleged to have accepted gifts from wealthy businessmen and dispensed favours to try to get more positive press coverage.
Netanyahu has strongly denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a politically motivated “witch hunt”. — NNN-AGENCIES
