More Israelis voted in Tuesday’s election than in any poll since 2001, yet neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his challengers have a straightforward path to power. Complicating matters are the stunning gains made by the Joint List and Ra’am, two slates representing Palestinian citizens of Israel that almost all Israeli political leaders have promised to exclude from any future governing coalition.
With 85 percent of votes counted on Wednesday, Netanyahu and his allies stood on 53 seats, while former army chief Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc had 48. The Palestinian parties together sat on 19. A minimum of 61 of Israel’s 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, is needed to form a majority government, and no one is close to that magic number.
via ReutersMiddle East Eye explores the possibilities as coalition-building negotiations set to begin.
Netanyahu stays in power
When the exit polls were released at 10pm on Tuesday night, showing Netanyahu’s bloc trailing Eisenkot’s, many were prematurely writing the prime minister’s political obituary. Over the following hours, it became clear that not only was Netanya
