TEL AVIV, October 29. /TASS/. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party remains in the lead following the October 27 parliamentary election, with 97.3% of ballots counted, according to preliminary figures released by the Central Elections Committee (CEC).
Likud is projected to win 27 seats in the 120-member parliament, followed by Yashar, led by Netanyahu’s main opposition rival Gadi Eisenkot, with 21.
The bloc comprising Likud and the far-right and Orthodox parties that support Netanyahu and make up the current governing coalition also retains its lead. It is projected to secure 53 seats, compared with 48 for the opposition. Arab parties are set to win 19 seats, although neither Likud nor the opposition is expected to be willing to form a coalition with them.
The CEC is expected to complete the vote count by the end of October 29 and publish the final results no later than November 4. Once the results are available, President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations with representatives of the parties elected to the Knesset before tasking one of its members with forming a new governing coalition.
A coalition needs at least 61 Knesset seats to form a government, a threshold no political bloc has yet reached. The leader of the party with the most seats usually becomes the candidate for prime minister. However, the president may also task a politician whose party did not win the most votes with forming a government if that politician can assemble a coalition.
The first candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible two-week extension. If that attempt fails, the president will give another lawmaker two weeks to form a coalition, without the possibility of an extension.
If no lawmaker succeeds in forming a stable coalition, new elections will be called after 90 days. Netanyahu will continue to lead Israel’s government until a new cabinet is sworn in.
