JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects of victory in Israel’s last election appeared to be out of reach on Thursday, with the almost complete vote count showing that he and his right-wing allies did not reach a parliamentary majority. .
With 99.5% of the votes counted, Israel’s electoral commission showed both Netanyahu’s allies and those determined to overthrow him without a clear path to forming a government. The remaining un counted votes are unlikely to alter the results.
Tuesday’s vote, Israel’s fourth parliamentary election in two years, was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s ability to govern while he is under prosecution. But neither the pro-Netanyahu camp nor its highly fragmented opponents won 61 of the 120 seats required in parliament.
Netanyahu and his allies had a projection of 52 seats, compared to 57 occupied by their opponents. In the middle are two undecided parties: Yamina, a seven-seat nationalist party led by a former lieutenant from Netanyahu, and Raam, an Arab Islamic party that won four seats. Neither Yft Naftali Bennett nor Raam’s Mansour Abbas committed to either camp.
Deep divisions between the various parties will make it difficult for either side to obtain a majority.
Arab parties have never joined a government coalition, and for nationalist parties, such an alliance is anathema. Bezalel Smotrich, an ally of Netanyahu and head of the extreme right Zionist religious party, said on Thursday that “a right-wing government will not be established with the support of Abbas. Time course. Not on my watch. ”
Gideon Saar, a defector from Netanyahu’s Likud who now leads a six-seat party committed to removing him, said “it is clear that Netanyahu does not have a majority to form a government under his leadership. Actions must now be taken to realize the possibility of forming a government for change. “
Likud, which won the largest number of seats of any party, retaliated, saying that such a bloc would be undemocratic. He compared Netanyahu’s opponents to the clerical leadership of Israel’s archenemy, Iran, which examines candidates for high office.
Yohanan Plesner, president of Israel’s Institute of Democracy, said the stalemate was “Israel’s worst political crisis in decades”.
“It is clear that our political system finds it very difficult to produce a decisive result,” said Plesner. He added that the weaknesses inherent in Israel’s electoral system are compounded by the “Netanyahu factor”: a popular prime minister struggling to stay in power while on charges. “Israelis are split in half on this issue.”
Several of Netanyahu’s opponents have begun to discuss advancing a bill to disqualify a politician on charges of being charged with forming a government, a move that aims to bar the long-term prime minister’s mandate. A similar bill was introduced after the March 2020 elections, but was never passed.
Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and taking bribes in three cases. He denied any wrongdoing and called the accusations a witch hunt by police and the media biased.
Despite the accusations against him, Netanyahu’s Likud party received about a quarter of the vote, making it the largest party in parliament. A total of 13 parties received enough votes to enter the Knesset – the largest since the 2003 election – and represent a variety of ultra-Orthodox, Arab, secular, nationalist and liberal factions.
The final vote count is expected to be completed by Friday.