Israel vote nearly counted: Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats, eight short of majority
With 93% of polling stations counted, Likud leads with 26 seats. Gadi Eisenkot's bloc has 48 seats and Arab parties 19.
Symbolic image · Photo: Clema12 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
A day after Israel's parliamentary election, the race appears headed for deadlock. With 93% of polling stations, or 85.6% of votes, counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc stands at 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, eight short of a majority, Ynetnews reported. The bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot has 48 seats, with Arab parties holding 19 combined.
Netanyahu's Likud remains the largest party with 26 seats, ahead of Eisenkot's Yashar! list with 21. The Joint List follows with 13 and Naftali Bennett's alliance with 12. Eisenkot told supporters they had made history, while Netanyahu urged the "Zionist majority" to come to its senses and unite.
More than half a million double-envelope ballots, including soldiers' votes, have yet to be counted. The Central Elections Committee said counting would begin overnight and wrap up Thursday evening. Israel could remain under a caretaker government for some time while coalition talks continue.