ISRAELI ELECTION RESULTS IN UNCERTAINTY
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political and legal peril increased Wednesday, as a completed parliamentary election vote tally affirmed his party as the country’s largest, but left his rightwing bloc without the majority it would need to govern.
Less than two weeks before he goes on trial on corruption charges, the 70-yearold prime minister saw fluctuations in the vote count from Monday’s election shrink the strength of his religious-nationalist coalition to three seats fewer than the 61 required for a governing majority.
As opponents sought to deny him a mandate to form a government, an angry Netanyahu accused his chief rival, Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff, of trying to “steal the election.”
With 100 percent of the regular ballots counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party had 36 seats, compared to 33 for Gantz’s Blue and White party, according to Wednesday’s tally. That was viewed as a devastating setback for the 60-year-old retired general, who had campaigned hard on a platform of Netanyahu’s unfitness to serve.
But the first-place finish for Netanyahu’s party proved no guarantee of success. In the tally released Wednesday, the seat count for the prime minister’s coalition — which initial exit polls had put as high as 60, the cusp of an overall victory — slipped back to 58, three short of a majority in the 120seat Knesset, or parliament.
That count will not be officially ratified until next week. But it leaves Netanyahu dangerously exposed heading into his March 17 trial on charges of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. He had hoped to shore up his position with a solid election win, then use the powers of his office to shortcircuit his prosecution.
Political analyst Yaron Dekel, of Israel’s national broadcaster, said that instead of giving a mandate to either Netanyahu or Gantz, President Reuven Rivlin could choose instead to throw the matter directly to the Knesset, initiating a 21day period in which a consensus candidate could emerge.