JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospect of victory in Israel’s last election seemed unattainable on Thursday, while the number of votes almost completely showed him and his right-wing allies that they did not have a parliamentary majority.
With 99.5% of the vote counted, Israel’s election commission showed both Netanyahu’s allies and those determined to overthrow him without a clear way to form a government. The rest of the countless votes are unlikely to change 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 under indictment. But neither the pro-Netanyahu camp nor its highly fragmented opponents won 61 of the 120 seats needed in parliament.
Netanyahu and his allies had predicted 52 seats compared to 57 held by his opponents. In the middle are two undecided parties: Yamina, a seven-seat nationalist party led by a former Netanyahu lieutenant, and Raam, an Arab Islamist party that won four seats.. Neither Naftali Bennett of Yamina nor Mansour Abbas of Raam engaged in any camp.
The deep divisions between the different parties will make it difficult to get a majority on each side.
Arab parties have never joined a ruling coalition, and for nationalist parties, such an alliance is anathema. Bezalel Smotrich, an ally of Netanyahu and the leader of the far-right religious Zionist party, said on Thursday that “a right-wing government will not be established with the support of Abbas. Period. Not while I’m here. ”
Gideon Saar, a deserter from Netanyahu’s Likud, now leading 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. Now steps must be taken to realize the possibility of forming a government for change. “
Likud, who won the most seats in any party, rejected it, saying such a bloc would be undemocratic. He compared Netanyahu’s opponents to the clerical leadership in Iran’s enemy Israel, which vets senior candidates.
Yohanan Plesner, president of Israel’s Institute for Democracy, said the stalemate was “Israel’s worst political crisis in decades.”
“It is obvious that 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 are exacerbated by the “Netanyahu factor”: a popular prime minister who is struggling to stay in power while being indicted. “The Israelis are divided right in the middle of this question.”
Several of Netanyahu’s opponents have begun discussing advancing a bill to disqualify a politician accused of forming a government, a measure aimed at banning the long-serving prime minister. A similar bill was launched after the March 2020 elections, but was never passed.
Netanyahu is on trial for fraud, breach of trust and acceptance of bribery in three cases. He denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the allegations as a witch hunt by a biased law enforcement and the media.
Despite allegations 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 – most since the 2003 elections – and represent a variety of ultra-Orthodox, Arab, secular, nationalist and liberal factions.
A final number of votes was expected to be finalized by Friday.