Netanyahu leads in Israel election, but lacks majority

JERUSALEM, March 3

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led on Tuesday in Israel’s third national election in less than a year but was short of a governing majority, nearly complete results showed.

Netanyahu claimed victory in Monday’s vote over his main challenger, former armed forces chief Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, after exit polls projected the right-wing leader’s Likud party had come out on top.

But Gantz stopped short of conceding defeat, saying the election could result in another deadlock and he understood and shared his supporters’ “feeling of disappointment and pain”.

With some 90 per cent of the votes counted, Netanyahu, who has the pledged support of right-wing and religious parties for a coalition government, appeared to control 59 seats in parliament, two short of a ruling majority.

The gap made former defence minister Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party a potential kingmaker after remaining on the sidelines in inconclusive ballots in April and September. A win for Netanyahu, 70, would be testament to the political durability of Israel’s longest-serving leader, who fought the latest campaign under the shadow of a looming corruption trial.

It would also pave the way for Netanyahu to make good on his pledge to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, and the region’s Jordan Valley, under a peace plan presented by US President Donald Trump.

Palestinians have rejected the proposal, saying it would kill their dream of establishing a viable state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. — Reuters

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

• Netanyahu remains ahead of the pack. But the veteran will still need support from like-minded parties to form a coalition government with at least 61 seats
• He goes to trial on March 17, charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust over allegations that he granted to Israeli media
• If the stalemate continues, Netanyahu would remain the head of a caretaker government and Israelis could head back to the polls
• Another election would mean continuing fiscal paralysis for Israel, which has yet to pass a 2020 budget due to the deadlock.