With the close of the polling stations in the election for Israel's Knesset, it appears that the right-wing block that supports Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu will have 61 of the 120 Knesset seats, enabling Netanyahu to form a government.
According to the exit poll by Channel 12 News, the Likud, the haredi parties and the Religious Zionist party have won a total of 53 seats. Yamina, led by Naftali Bennett, has eight seats, while the anti-Netanyahu parties have 59 seats. The full results in this poll are: Likud - 31 seats; Yesh Atid - 18; Yamina - 8; New Hope - 6; the Joint Arab List - 9; Shas - 9; Yisrael Beitenu - 6; United Torah Judaism - 6; Labor 7; Religious Zionist party - 7; Blue & White - 7; Meretz 6. According to this poll, Ra'am and the Economic Party have failed to pass the minimum vote threshold.
The Channel 13 poll gives Likud, the haredi parties and the Religious Zionist party have won 61 seats; Yamina has seven, and the anti-Netanyahu parties 59. The full results of this poll are Likud - 33; Yesh Atid - 16; Yamina - 7; New Hope - 5; the Joint Arab List 8; Shas - 8; Yisrael Beitenu - 8; United Torah Judaism - 7; Labor 7; Blue & White - 8; Religious Zionist - 6; Meretz - 7. According to this poll too, Ra'am and the Economic Party have failed to pass the minimum vote threshold.
According to the Kan 11 exit poll, Likud, the haredi parties and the Religious Zionist party have 61 seats, Yamina has 7 seats, and the anti-Netanyahu parties have 59 seats. This poll gives Likud 31 seats; Yesh Atid - 18; Yamina - 7; New Hope - 6; the Joint Arab List - 8; Shas - 9; Yisrael Beitenu - 7; United Torah Judaism - 7; Labor - 7; Religious Zionist - 7; Blue & White - 7; Meretz - 6. Again, Ra'am and the Economic Party do not pass the minimum vote threshold.
Assuming that the exit polls are accurate, the parties seeking to replace Netanyahu have won less than 60 Knesset seats, and their chances of forming a different government are almost zero.
Naftali Bennett's Yamina and Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party have turned out to be the surprise of the election, but not in a positive sense. These parties, which each had nearly 20 projected seats early in the campaign, have seen their support melt away.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 23, 2021
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