Netanyahu bloc leads as Israeli votes counted

JERUSALEM (AFP) — The camp of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ahead of his rival’s opposition bloc but still short of a majority on Wednesday after two-thirds of the votes were counted in Israel’s pivotal general election.

Voters turned out in the highest numbers in decades to give their verdict on Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who has pushed the country sharply to the right and unleashed a wave of wars in response to Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack.

Following the vote, both Netanyahu and his main rival Gadi Eisenkot vowed to form a government despite neither being projected to win a majority.

With 66 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was shown to have 54 of the 120 seats in the parliament.

Eisenkot’s opposition bloc had 48 seats and the country’s non-aligned Arab parties 18. The partial results are likely to change as more votes are counted.