Tel Aviv:Â Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz have both claimed victory in the election after exit polls predicted a parliamentary majority for rightist parties under the incumbent but a big showing for Gantz’s party.
“We won! The Israeli public has had its say!” said Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party, which two out of three exit polls saw taking more seats than Netanyahu’s conservative Likud.
A third exit poll predicted the two parties would be tied in Tuesday’s election.
However, two of the polls predicted that right-wing parties would together take more than 60 of parliament’s 120 seats, forming a bloc that Netanyahu could marshal to form the next coalition government.
Exit polls on two of Israel’s three main TV channels showed that main challenger Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party won slightly more seats that Likud in the 120-member parliament, while a third survey forecast a tie.
Though neither party captured a ruling majority in the Knesset, according to the exit polls, the surveys put Netanyahu in a stronger position to form a coalition government with the help of right-wing factions.
Some political analysts, however, cautioned it was too early to determine the outcome, with many hours to go before a final tally is in.
Channel 13 forecast Netanyahu could piece together a ruling bloc controlling 66 seats compared with 54 for the Blue and White-led coalition of centre-left and left-wing parties.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP, Reuters).