Netanyahu far from 61 seats, Liberman poised to be kingmaker
Sept 19, 2019 3:37:11 GMT -5
Post by Midnight on Sept 19, 2019 3:37:11 GMT -5
Netanyahu far from 61 seats, Liberman poised to be kingmaker – exit polls
As voting ends, 3 main surveys point to fall in support for Likud, putting it neck-and-neck with Blue and White; extremist Otzma Yehudit doesn’t pass the threshold
By MICHAEL BACHNER and TOI STAFF
17 September 2019, 10:27 pm 1
As voting ended in Tuesday’s Knesset elections, all three exit polls published by the main television channels showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc of supporters several seats short of the 61 seats needed to form a coalition, meaning that there would be no obvious winner in the race to the premiership.
Yoaz Hendel, an MK from the opposition centrist Blue and White alliance, declared that the polls showed “the era of Netanyahu is over.”
A Netanyahu loyalist, Likud’s Tzachi Hanegbi, by contrast, said he was “convinced” that the exit polls were wrong “and Netanyahu will continue to lead us for the next five years.”
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The right-wing bloc — made up of Netanyahu’s Likud party, the religious right-wing Yamina and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism — was predicted to get between 54 and 57 seats in the 120-member parliament. The center-left bloc was forecast to get 42-45, while the Arab parties increased their power to 11-13.
Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, which has urged a unity government with Likud and Blue and White and refused to commit to backing either side, was projected to get between 8 and 10 seats, sharply up from his current 5, making him a potential kingmaker.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which had been predicted in several opinion polls in recent weeks to pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold, did not make it into the Knesset in any of the exit polls, which likely denied the right-wing bloc votes that could potentially have given it a majority.
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As voting ends, 3 main surveys point to fall in support for Likud, putting it neck-and-neck with Blue and White; extremist Otzma Yehudit doesn’t pass the threshold
By MICHAEL BACHNER and TOI STAFF
17 September 2019, 10:27 pm 1
As voting ended in Tuesday’s Knesset elections, all three exit polls published by the main television channels showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc of supporters several seats short of the 61 seats needed to form a coalition, meaning that there would be no obvious winner in the race to the premiership.
Yoaz Hendel, an MK from the opposition centrist Blue and White alliance, declared that the polls showed “the era of Netanyahu is over.”
A Netanyahu loyalist, Likud’s Tzachi Hanegbi, by contrast, said he was “convinced” that the exit polls were wrong “and Netanyahu will continue to lead us for the next five years.”
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP
The right-wing bloc — made up of Netanyahu’s Likud party, the religious right-wing Yamina and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism — was predicted to get between 54 and 57 seats in the 120-member parliament. The center-left bloc was forecast to get 42-45, while the Arab parties increased their power to 11-13.
Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, which has urged a unity government with Likud and Blue and White and refused to commit to backing either side, was projected to get between 8 and 10 seats, sharply up from his current 5, making him a potential kingmaker.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which had been predicted in several opinion polls in recent weeks to pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold, did not make it into the Knesset in any of the exit polls, which likely denied the right-wing bloc votes that could potentially have given it a majority.
Continued at link