According to the final results of Israel’s general election, published on Friday, the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has edged ahead of the opposition but failed to secure a majority.
This is reported by France24.
This sets the stage for difficult coalition talks or, possibly, another election.
The coalition of right-wing and far-right parties led by Netanyahu won 53 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction after taking 27 seats.
The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats.
The results announced by the Central Elections Committee also confirmed that Arab political groupings — Ra’am and the Joint List — could play a decisive role in forming a coalition: together they won 19 seats.
Such a fragmented outcome points to difficult negotiations to form a government, which could drag on for weeks. Neither bloc managed to reach the required threshold of 61 seats, and if talks fail there is a possibility of a new election.
- Earlier, Netanyahu said that the strong showing by Arab parties in the election was the result of bribery and foreign interference by Qatar and Turkey.