Israeli exit polls show deadlock, point to setback for Netanyahu

Israel’s wartime election appeared deadlocked on Tuesday, exit polls showed, with Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition bloc running neck and neck with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp, leaving neither side with a clear path to power. The projections pointed to a setback for Netanyahu’s coalition and potentially weeks of political wrangling to form a government, though the deadlock could allow Israel’s longest-serving prime minister to remain in power as caretaker during coalition negotiations. “We must establish a strong, right-wing government,” Netanyahu told Likud party supporters after 3 a. m. (0100 GMT) during a speech in Jerusalem, highlighting Israel’s military successes and what he described as a historic opportunity to “remove the Iranian threat.

” Kan 11 and Channel 13 showed the two blocs level, while Channel 12 showed Netanyahu’s Likud-led camp taking a narrow edge over Eisenkot as the night progressed. None gave either side the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. “The Israeli public has voted against Netanyahu’s service as Israel’s prime minister … a worthy leader would have accepted the people’s non-confidence and announced today his retirement from politics,” Eisenkot earlier told cheering supporters in Tel Aviv. Far-right religious parties led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich were projected to take a combined 13 seats within Netanyahu’s bloc. Arab parties outside the two main blocs could hold the balance of power. But Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a former military chief, has all but ruled out forming a government with them, complicating his path to power. Voter turnout was 77. 7%, Israel’s Central Elections Committee said, the highest in more than two decades and around 7 percentage points higher than in 2022. Final…