Official results are not yet in, but exit polls indicate a solid lead by Netanyahu’s Likud party over Gantz’s Blue and White party. (36-67 seats for Likud, 33 for Blue and White) The right block also leads the left by 59-60 to 54. Yisrael Beytenu seems to have garnered 7 seats, enough to push either block over the hump. However, Yisrael Beytenu’s Avigdor Lieberman, once a close confidant of Netanyahu, pledged he will not sit in a government with him. Additionally, the Arab Joint List is included in the left, though Blue and White is not likely to form a government with them.
Exit polls do not include votes cast by soldiers, who tend to lean right. Thus, Likud is hoping for a huge haul of right-leaning votes from the military segment. Will it be enough to push the right over the threshold? We’ll have to wait and see.
Bottom line: Netanyahu may find himself just short of a coalition…or the numbers could swing his way.
Here is latest info from Israel.
Keep praying! May God grant Israel a strong, conservative government.