JERUSALEM (AP) – The final election results show Israel once again in a political stalemate, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents reaching a government majority.
Israel’s electoral commission says that with 100% of the vote counted, Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party and its natural allies won 52 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, with 120 seats. An ideologically diverse series of parties committed to oust him won 57 seats.
A right-wing party won seven seats and an Arab Islamist party won four. Both are unemployed, but given the many rivalries in parliament, it is unclear whether either could get the required majority.
Party leaders have already begun negotiations that are expected to last weeks. If no one is able to gather a 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 ability to govern while under indictment.
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, a Netanyahu ally and head of the far-right Zionist religious party, said on Thursday that “a right-wing government will not be established with the support of Abbas. Period. Not while I’m here. ”
He was referring to Mansour Abbas, the head of the United Arab List, who won four seats.
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.