The final story shows Likud’s party of PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his friends eight seats short of a majority to lead a country.
The results of the last election have seen Israel once again in political turmoil, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents falling short of a ruling majority.
Tuesday’s vote, Israel’s fourth parliamentary election in two years, was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s suitability for rule while on trial for corruption.
He put Israel’s highly successful vaccination campaign at the heart of his campaign but was criticized for his earlier mistakes in the pandemic and for refusing to resign. after his dismissal.
The Israeli election commission said Thursday that with 100 percent of the votes counted, Netanyahu’s southern Likud party and its natural allies have won 52 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament. A diverse range of parties won 57 seats.
A party on the right led by Netanyahu ally Naftali Bennett won seven seats and an Arab Islamic party led by Mansour Abbas won four. Both are unrelated, but with so much conflict in parliament, it is unclear whether one can deliver a necessary majority.
But on Thursday, the leader of the Zionist Religious Party, Bezalel Smotrich, said “there will be no right-wing government backed by Abbas,” effectively closing the door on a possible union between Islamic and religious parties. Israel.
Gideon Saar, a defender from Likud Netanyahu who now leads a disbanded six-seat party, said “it is clear that Netanyahu does not have a majority to form a government under his leadership.” Steps must now be taken to build the capacity for government to change ”.
Likud, who won the majority of any party seat, fired back, saying such a bloc would be “anti-democratic”. He compared Netanyahu’s opponents to the religious leadership of Israel’s hostile Iran, which scrutinizes candidates for high office.
Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israeli Institute for Democracy, described the lockout as “the worst political crisis in Israel in decades”.
“Obviously it is difficult for our political system to produce a definitive result,” said Plesner.
He said inherent weaknesses in Israel’s electoral system were exacerbated by “the factor Netanyahu”: a popular prime minister who struggles to stay in power while he is accused.
“The Israelis are divided down the middle of this issue.”
A number of Netanyahu’s opponents have begun talking about advancing a bill to disqualify an accused politician from being in charge of forming a government, a measure aimed at preventing the a long-serving prime minister. A similar bill was launched after the March 2020 elections, but was never passed.
Netanyahu has been tried for fraud, breach of trust and acceptance of bribes in three cases. He has denied any crime and has denied the charges as a witch hunt by law enforcement and the media.
Despite allegations against him, Lanyud Netanyahu’s party received about a quarter of the vote, making him the largest party in parliament.
13 parties received enough votes to join the Knesset – mostly since the 2003 election – and represent a mix of ultra-rectangular, Arab, secular, nationalist and liberal groups.