Israel’s right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has described his success in the parliamentary elections as a “good start”. However, the final result of the election will only be known after all votes have been counted, said the leader of the Likud party on Tuesday evening at a meeting with supporters. “And it has to be the real count, not a false count,” warned the 73-year-old.
Likud supporters had previously made allegations of attempts to falsify voting in the Arab sector. The Central Election Committee, on the other hand, announced that “no unusual incidents were known in the Arab sector”.
According to TV forecasts, the Arab party Balad is just below the 3.25 percent hurdle. If she manages to get into parliament, this could jeopardize Netanyahu’s majority.
According to the forecasts, his Likud party won 30 to 31 out of 120 seats. Prime Minister Jair Lapid’s Future Party came in second with 22 to 24 seats. The right-wing religious camp around Netanyahu achieved a narrow majority of 61 to 62 seats in the fifth election within three and a half years. Netanyahu said his camp was “potentially facing a major victory”.
The forecasts put the Religious Zionist Party of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir in third place with 14 to 15 seats. The right-wing alliance is considered a possible kingmaker. The election committee did not expect preliminary final results before Thursday.