Elections in Israel: Early polls indicate Benjamin Netanyahu’s party will not reach a majority to form a government

After the polls in Israel have closed, Early polls indicate that there would be no clear winner in the fourth elections that have taken place in the country in the past two years. According to Exit Gates, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud wins the most seats. However, the majority of the government would not be guaranteed.

First screenings from three major Israeli broadcasters give Likud between 31 and 33 seats out of the 120 members of the Knesset (Parliament), greatly outnumbering its closest rival, Yesh Atid, a centrist party expected to win between 16 and 18 seats.

After receiving the first projections, Netanyahu indicated that the Israeli legislative elections “A huge victory for the right”. “Citizens of Israel, thank you! Ustedes dieron una inmensa victoria para la derecha y para el Likud bajo mi dirección (…) Es evidente que una mayoría aplastante de ciudadanos israelíes es de derechas y quieren un gobierno de derechas, fuerte y estable ”, señaló el primer ministro en sus social networks.

The Israelis voted after weeks of gradual economic reopening, with more than half of the population vaccinated, which has restored a sense of normalcy to the streets.

Israel’s normalization of relations agreements with four Arab countries – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan (the latter in the absence of the final deal) – is another of the electoral achievements with which Netanyahu aspires. to extend a mandate which has been renewed consecutively since 2009.

He is assured of his traditional ultra-Orthodox partners – Shah and United Torah Judaism – and of the far-right Zionist religious party, with strong racist rhetoric, led by Bezalel Smotrich. This approval would allow Likud to reach 53 or 54 seats. However, 61 seats are needed to obtain a majority in Parliament.

Netanyahu’s main rival in challenging the head of government is centrist Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, but with an estimate of between 16 and 19 seats, he should add the rest of the lists that are presented to topple Netanyahu, such as Gideón Saar, who left Likud to create Nueva Esperanza, which foresees 9 seats.

The Prime Minister could, however, form a majority right-wing coalition with the support of the radical conservative leader. Naftali Bennett, which would take about seven or eight seats, according to polls.

Bennett, a critic of the Prime Minister’s management, on Sunday signed a statement in which he assures that he will not be part of a Lapid government, but without saying whether he will join one with Netanyahu. “I will only do what is good for the State of Israel,” said the current Israeli Minister of Defense.

“If Bennett joins his coalition, Netanyahu is closer than ever to a narrow government that includes the most extreme elements of Israeli society,” he said. Yohanan Plesner, chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute think-tank, after reviewing the provisional results.

For its part, Blue and White centrist Beny Gantz and leftist Meretz, struggling to cross the electoral threshold, would win between 7-8 and 6-7 seats respectively. Joint List to lose seats to 8-9 MPs; and the Islamist Raam, who broke away from the coalition, does not cross the electoral threshold.

The far-right and secular Israel Nuestro Hogar, led by Avigdor Liberman, and opposed to negotiating with Netanyahu, would gain representation of 6 to 8 MPs.

If Netanyahu cannot come to an agreement with Bennett and his opponents cannot unite, a fifth election can be held.

The turnout two hours before the polls closed was 60.9%, almost five percentage points lower than in the previous election last year. A total of 6,578,084 Israelis over the age of 18 were called to vote at 13,685 polling centers.

Netanyahu, 71, is Israel’s longest-serving prime ministerBut its inability to form a governing majority plunged the country into a political blockade.

The prime minister is on trial for corruption, charges he denies, but which have helped fuel a protest movement with weekly rallies outside his Jerusalem residence.

Although he has said he will not block the trial and hopes to be exonerated, his critics suspect that if he succeeds in forming a government, he could demand parliamentary action to delay or end the process.

Election day Palestinian militants fired rocket from Gaza into Beer Sheva, shortly after Netanyahu’s visit to the southern city.

The military said “a projectile was fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory” and a spokeswoman said the rocket hit an open field in the first such attack since January. At this time, no immediate damage or injury has been reported.

With information from AFP and EFE

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