JERUSALEM (AP) – The final election results show Israel in a political impasse once again, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents failing to reach a government majority.
Israel’s election commission says with 100% of the vote counted, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and its natural allies have won 52 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, Israel’s parliament. An ideologically diverse set of parties committed to ousting him won 57 seats.
A right-wing party won seven seats and an Arab Islamist party won four. Both are not engaged, but given the numerous rivalries in parliament, it is unclear whether either could deliver the necessary majority.
Party leaders have already begun negotiations that are expected to last for weeks. If no one is able to muster the majority of at least 61 seats, then Israel will go to the polls for the fifth time unprecedented in just over two years.
Tuesday’s vote, Israel’s fourth parliamentary election in two years, was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s condition for governing while under indictment.
The deep divisions between the various parties would make it difficult to obtain the majority of the parties.
Arab parties have never joined a governing coalition, and for nationalist parties, this alliance is anathema. Bezalel Smotrich, a Netanyahu ally and leader of the far-right Zionist religious party, said on Thursday that “a right-wing government with the support of Abbas will not be established. Period. I’m not on my watch. ”
He was referring to Mansour Abbas, the head of the United Arab list, who won four seats.
Gideon Saar, a defector from Netanyahu’s Likud who now leads a six-seat party committed to ousting him, said “it is clear that Netanyahu does not have a majority to form a government under his leadership. Action must now be taken to realize – the possibility of forming a government for change “.
The Likud, who won the majority of seats in any party, withdrew and said the bloc would be “undemocratic”. He compared Netanyahu’s opponents to the clerical leadership of Iran, an arch-enemy, which controls candidates for high office.
Yohanan Plesner, president of Israel’s Institute of Democracy, said the stalemate is Israel’s “worst political crisis in decades.”
“Clearly, it is very difficult for our political system to produce a decisive result,” Plesner said. He added that the weaknesses inherent in Israel’s electoral system add to the “Netanyahu factor”: a popular prime minister struggling to stay in power while under indictment. “Israelis are divided in the middle of this issue.”
Several Netanyahu opponents have begun discussing the progress of a bill to disqualify a politician accused of being in charge of forming a government, a move aimed at banning the long-time prime minister. A similar bill was introduced after the March 2020 elections, but was never passed.
Netanyahu is being prosecuted for fraud, breach of trust and acceptance of bribes in three cases. He has denied any illegal offense and turned down charges like witch-hunting by biased police and the media.
Despite the charges 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 highest since the 2003 election – and represent a variety of ultra-Orthodox, Arab, secular, nationalist and liberal factions.