As the voting in Israel's fourth election in under two years ended at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, exit polls showed Likud in the lead with 31 seats, putting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within reach of securing the 61 mandates necessary to form a government – providing that Yamina leader Naftali Bennett rejoins the right-wing bloc.
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Shortly after the exit polls were released, Bennett said, "I will only do what is good for the State of Israel." He did not elaborate further.
Public broadcaster Kan 11 News projected the following results:
According to this poll, the Arab Ra'am party and the Economic party failed to cross the four-seat electoral threshold.
The public broadcaster thus gave the right-wing bloc 54 seats, and the Center-Left bloc 59 seats, with Yamina as the party that can change the balance of power in the next government.
Channel 12 News predicted the following results:
Here, too, Ra'am and the Economic party failed to cross the electoral threshold.
Israel's largest commercial broadcaster gave the right-wing bloc 53 seats, and the Center-Left bloc 59 seats, naming Yamina as the party that could decide the fate of the elections.
Channel 13 News gave the following results:
Here, too, Ra'am and the Economic party did not make it into the 24th Knesset.
The outlet echoed Kan's results, predicting 54 mandates for the right-wing bloc and 59 for the Center-Left, with Yamina as the swing faction.
On average, the combined exit polls yielded the following projections:
The results put both blocs within reach of cobbling together a coalition – as long as Yamina joins one of them. However, as Bennett has vowed not to join a government led by Netanyahu or by Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, it is unclear where the national-religious party is headed.
The fact that Ra'am failed to enter parliament also deals a blow to both political blocs, as it, too, could have shifted the balance of power in either direction, although to a lesser extent.
Central Elections Committee Head Attorney Orly Adas said on Tuesday morning that the results of the elections may not be clear until Friday, adding that the final results will only be available next week.
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