Israel election: Likud-led bloc takes lead, Netanyahu calls for ‘strong right-wing’ govt

Israeli election results showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud bloc leading with 41.9 per cent of ballot boxes counted, securing 57 projected seats against 47 for the opposition camp. However, neither side had reached the 61-seat majority required

Jerusalem: Israel’s election results showed incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud bloc leading by Wednesday morning, with 41.9 per cent of ballot boxes counted, local media reported. The partial results released by Central Elections Committee gave Netanyahu’s bloc 57 seats to 47 for the anti-Netanyahu camp.

The predominantly Arab Joint List and Ra’am factions together held the remaining 16 seats, The Times of Israel reported.

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Following exit polls released by Israeli media outlets Channels 11, 12 and 13 on Tuesday night, no clear winner emerged in Israel’s election, with neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition seeking to replace him projected to secure the 61 seats required for a majority in the Knesset, the country’s parliament. However, by Wednesday morning, some polls indicated Netanyahu’s bloc with a clear lead.

An updated exit poll released overnight showed Netanyahu’s bloc drawing level with or gaining an edge over the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces.

Responding to the projections, Netanyahu asserted that the right wing commanded a “great majority” among Israel’s “Zionist public” and called for the formation of a “strong right-wing government”.

Addressing supporters at the Likud election headquarters in Jerusalem after the polls, Netanyahu criticised media outlets that had forecast a poor performance by his Likud party in the elections. “Do you remember how the propaganda channels engineered public consciousness? Likud on 18 seats, 19 seats. They knew the whole time that it was a lie. They were trying to demoralise you from coming to the ballot box. That is what went on here. Well, the first thing that has become clear, unequivocally, is that Likud is the biggest party in Israel. There is no disputing it,” Times of Israel quoted Netanyahu as saying.

“And the second thing that has become clear… is that the right-wing bloc has a clear, decisive majority among the Zionist public, among the Jewish public and all those who support the Jewish state. That is what has become clear. A decisive majority. And therefore I said, and I say again, that we must form a strong, national, right-wing government. That is what must be done,” he added.

He also criticised parties willing to cooperate with Arab parties, calling such an arrangement a “shame”. Questioning how parties could discuss “the covenant of those who serve” while cooperating with parties that attack Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers, Netanyahu said it was unthinkable “to endanger Israel and set up a government that relies upon anti-Zionist Arab parties”.

He further described them as parties that oppose Israel’s very existence, that regard “Hamas as a charitable organization”, that call Israeli soldiers “war criminals.”

Highlighting Israel’s achievements in the conflicts that followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack, Netanyahu claimed that Iran had been significantly weakened while Israel had emerged stronger. The Tuesday elections marked the first electoral contest since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, amid significant shifts in the political landscape and the issues shaping voter priorities since the 2022 elections.