Netanyahus right-wing bloc ahead of opposition as post-election vote count continues

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc appeared to outperform most exit polls following Tuesday’s national election, pulling ahead of the opposition overnight, according to partial results published by Israel’s Central Elections Committee.Netanyahu’s Likud party had 790,994 votes (21.05%) after 3,775,461 votes had been counted at 8,702 voting stations, the CEC said as of 10:01 a.m.on Wednesday.Netanyahu’s bloc, which includes United Torah Judaism (225,949, 6.01%), Otzma Yehudit (210,692, 5.61%), Shas (207,694, 5.53%) and Religious Zionism-Zehut (187,330, 4.98%), had a collective 1,622,659 votes, or 43.17%.Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar had 606,897 votes (16.24%).

With his allies, B’Yachad (334,776, 8.91%), the Democrats (243,064, 6.47%) and Yisrael Beiteinu (225,073, 5.99%), he garnered a total of 1,409,810 votes, or 37.51%.Based on partial results, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc was projected to secure 54 seats, compared with 48 for the opposition and 18 for the Arab parties, though the figures remained subject to change, according to Israeli media.While Netanyahu still lacked a clear path to the 61 seats needed to form a governing coalition, the partial results, if sustained, could put him in prime position to receive the first opportunity to form Israel’s next government.Exit polls varied widely when polling stations closed at 10 p.m.on Tuesday, with Channel 14 projecting 30 Knesset seats for Likud, compared with 24 and 25 in projections by Channel 12 and Channel 13, respectively. Channel 14 projected 60 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, while other exit polls showed a stronger performance by the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot.Channel 12’s exit poll had projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 52 for the opposition and 18 for the Arab parties, whereas Channel 13’s had projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 53 for the opposition and 17 for the Arab parties.Exit polls are often revised as votes are counted, while surpl...