Israel poll ends in stalemate
Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival looked to be in the hands of his renegade former defence minister yesterday after he and his Right-wing allies failed to gain an overall majority.
Israel’s second election in six months delivered another indecisive result, with Netanyahu’s Likud party winning 31 seats compared to the 32 seats won by Blue & White, the centrist coalition led by Benny Gantz, a former military general.
Both sides fell short of the 61 seats needed for a majority. Netanyahu plus Right-wing parties won 55 seats, while Blue & White and the Left-wing parties, along with the party representing Israel’s Arab minority, won 56.
The result is likely to mean weeks of intense post-election negotiations as Netanyahu and Gantz compete to be given the chance to form a government and then to try to cobble together a majority.
They will be jostling for the support of Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former defence minister, who is positioned to be a kingmaker. His secular nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party won nine seats and holds the balance of power between the two blocs in the divided parliament.
Lieberman is demanding ‘‘a broad unity government’’ made up of Blue & White, Likud and his own Yisrael Beiteinu party. Gantz says he is seeking the same thing but Lieberman is so far being coy about who he will support.
In a statement, Lieberman said that the two main leaders must agree to his demands for a unity government if they were to seek his support.
‘‘If Netanyahu and Gantz won’t declare publicly that this is also their goal, they shouldn’t bother to call me,’’ he said.
The 61-year-old has served in Netanyahu’s government several times but the two fell out in 2018 after Lieberman, then at the defence ministry, resigned and accused the prime minister of being weak against Hamas.
In the coming days, Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president, will survey party leaders to see whether there is more support for Gantz or Netanyahu.
The man with the most backing is likely to be given first chance to form a government.
Netanyahu cancelled his plans to travel to New York next week for the UN General Assembly so he could deal with the crisis facing his premiership at home. The prime minister attempted an initial show of strength by announcing that all 55 Right-wing MPs would join together in a single faction under his leadership for the purpose of coalition negotiations.
But the parliamentary maths appear to show that a unity government is the only way forward, with a key question being what role Netanyahu would play in such a government.
Gantz has said he wants a unity coalition but that Netanyahu, who is facing criminal corruption charges, must first resign and be replaced by a new Likud leader.
Senior Likud figures insisted yesterday they would not abandon Netanyahu, who has led the party for 20 years.
‘‘We will never accept people dictating who our leaders are,’’ Nir Barkat, a Likud MP, said.