Israel poll results deadlocked amid historic showing by Arab parties

File photo: Benjamin Netanyahu’s (left) Likud party faces Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party.

Anxious Israelis watched election results near completion Wednesday, as no clear winner emerged and weeks of negotiating could lie ahead for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an array of opposition parties trying to unseat him.Arab-led parties put up a historic showing, but it's not clear if the other opponents of Netanyahu's far-right govt would form a coalition with them for a majority of seats in parliament. Issues around the Palestinians and their descendants remain sensitive in Israel.

In defiant comments - which showed his Likud party losing ground since 2022 election - Netanyahu dismissed the idea of partnering with Arab parties as treasonous.

He won't work with the Arab-led parties, whose constituents make up 20% of Israel's population, and they have also ruled out any partnership.His top challenger, centrist former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, has left the door open to partnering with Arab parties under certain conditions, including their recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and of Hamas as an extremist group.Emerging results indicated that neither Netanyahu's nor Eisenkot's coalition blocs would reach the 61 seats needed for a majority in 120-seat Knesset.

Media projected 53 seats for Likud and allied parties, 48 for Yashar and allied parties and 19 for Arab-led parties.

With 85% of votes counted, Bibi’s party has 20.8%, Eisenkot’s 16.1%

Israeli voters choose parties, not individuals. With 85% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party has 20.8% and Eisenkot’s Yashar party has 16.1%. Arab-led parties had 14.9%. It’s not clear whether some of Eisenkot’s likely partners who have ruled out such an alliance will change their minds to force Netanyahu from office.

Counting absentee ballots will last until Thursday evening. There are an estimated half-million of them from military personnel and diplomats.

Nearly 78% of voters turned out, the highest since 1999.Voting reflected unease over Netanyahu’s alliance with the far-right and anger in a war-weary nation over military draft exemptions for the significant ultra-Orthodox Jewish population. The Likud party’s share of the vote declined from 23.4% in 2022.

But results suggest opponents were unable to capitalise on the grief caused by the Hamas-led Oct 7, 2023, attack to decisively push him from office. One far-right partner losing support was national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

For many Israelis, he represented the worst strain of Netanyahu’s govt, openly taunting Palestinian detainees.Vote-counting suggested Likud would remain the largest party and most likely to be tapped to form a govt by Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog. The president, however, isn’t required to task the leader of the party holding the most seats. “We must do everything we can, to avoid another round of elections,” Herzog said.