by Eliav Breuer
Netanyahu's bloc passes 61-seat threshold • Victory will bring Netanyahu back to power after one year break in opposition. Lapid fails to reach majority.
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Head of the Likud party MK Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud Party election event in Qiryat Shemona, October 24, 2022.
(photo credit: MICHAL GILADI/FLASH90)
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Former prime minister and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become Israel's next prime minister, according to Tuesday night's exit polls.
According to the polls, Netanyahu's bloc, which includes Likud, Religious Zionist Party (RZP), United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, crossed the 61-seat threshold and will be able to form the next coalition. In some of the polls his bloc reached 62 seats.
What do the exit polls say?
Netanyahu's Likud party is expected to receive 30 seats according to Channel 12 and 31 seats according to Channel 13, while Lapid's Yesh Atid party is expected to get 24 seats according to both polls.
The Religious Zionist Party - led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich - saw a dramatic rise in contrast to previous years with both channels reporting 14 seats.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz's National Unity Party is expected to get 11 seats (Channel 12) or 12 seats (Channel 13), while Yisrael Beytenu gets 4 in both polls.
Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu arrives with his wife Sara to
cast his vote at a voting station in Jerusalem, on November 1, 2022, in
the Israeli general elections. (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)Israel's ultra-Orthodox parties saw a large voter turnout with Shas getting 10 seats in both polls and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) getting 7 seats.
Meanwhile, Israel's Left managed to keep its head above the water with either 6 seats (Channel 12) or 5 seats (Channel 13) going to Labor and either 5 seats (Channel 12) or 4 seats (Channel 13) going to Meretz.
Finally, while there was concern over the turnout of the Arab vote, Hadash-Ta'al is expected to receive either 4 seats in both channels' counts and Ra'am is expected to receive either 5 seats.
According to Channel 12, the Netanyahu bloc has 61 seats while the Lapid bloc has 55 seats.
According to Channel 13, the Netanyahu bloc has 62 seats while the Lapid bloc has 54 seats.
The exit polls have been off in previous elections by a small number of seats and the official results will only be finalized in the coming days. Still, by Wednesday the country should know with near certainty what the results will be.
The victory will bring Netanyahu back into power after serving as prime minister between 1996-1999 and 2009-2021. He is already Israel's longest serving prime minister.
The last polls on Friday showed a tie between the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu camp, but in the days since it managed to pull ahead.
The next finance and defense ministers will likely be from the Likud. However, the Public Security Ministry could go to far-right MK Itamar Ben Gvir, who demanded the position in a press conference on Sunday.
A total of 7,302 prisoners had voted in the elections for the 25th Knesset when the Israel Prison Service polls closed at 20:00.
Voter turnout for IPS prisoners was estimated to have been around 80% with 9,154 prisoners are eligible to vote. although of that number, around 1,800 prisoners chose not to vote.
Regarding IPS staff, 1,298 personnel voted out of a potential 1,500.
In Kan News's exit poll, Netanyahu's bloc has 62 seats and Lapid's bloc has 54.
According to Kan, Likud has 30 seats, Yesh Atid has 22, and the Religious Zionist Party has 15 seats.
Next, the exit poll showed 13 seats for the National Unity Party, 10 for Shas and seven for United Torah Judaism.
Yisrael Beytenu was next with 5 seats, and on the Left, Labor was predicted five seats and Meretz four. Of the Arab parties, Ra'am was predicted five seats and Hadash-Ta'al scraped past the threshold with four.
Eliav Breuer
Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-elections/article-721222
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