THE GROUP OF right-wing parties led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ahead in the Israeli general election on Wednesday morning after 50% of the votes had been counted, according to the country’s elections committee. 

After 50.1% of ballots were counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected to win 56 of the 120 seats in the parliament, compared with 49 for the opposition bloc and 15 for the Arab parties.

The partial results are likely to change, and several exit polls showed the two major camps neck-and-neck without a majority.

Netanyahu had spent much of polling day yesterday trying to encourage his supporters to come out and vote for his Likud party and their allies in the Israeli parliament, saying, “We’re at war for the home!” and “Time to save the country”. 

Israeli voters turned out in their highest numbers in decades, with exit polls showing the Netanyahu camp and that of his rival were neck and neck.

Exit polls from the three mainstream Israeli television networks had given the two blocs around 51 seats each in the 120-member Knesset – well below the 61 needed to govern – after initially giving an edge to the opposition.

The Arab Palestinian parties made strong gains, with exit polls showing them winning 17 or 18 seats between them.

Both Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot have ruled out forming coalitions with Arab parties. 

Former Israeli military chief and Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot in Tel Aviv this morning Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The elections, the first since the Hamas-led attack of October 2023 and the beginning of the genocide that has followed in Gaza, have been billed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership. 

There is little daylight between the main opposition faction and the government parties when it comes to the response to the 2023 attack, but reports that Netanyahu was warned before it occurred, coupled with his refusal to allow an inquiry, have led many Israelis to question the prime minister’s leadership.

Part of Netanyahu’s appeal to voters was touting his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who said yesterday that his endorsement of the prime minister “helped him a lot”. 

With reporting from AFP