Israel's Election Yields No Clear Winner as Netanyahu and Eisenkot Blocs Fall Short of Majority

Israel's election on Tuesday produced no clear winner. Counting continued Wednesday, and neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition nor the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot was near the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. With more than 90% of ballots counted, Netanyahu's coalition had 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc 49, on the highest turnout in decades. Earlier, with 60% counted, Likud had 21.4% of the vote and Eisenkot's Yashar 16.2%. Israel's two Arab parties won more seats than in any previous election. Yair Golan, head of the main left-wing party, urged opposition allies to form a government with Arab parties. Netanyahu rejected reliance on anti-Zionist Arab parties and called for a right-wing nationalist government. Likud also said Arab parties had stolen the election through prohibited software, bribery and threats, and said it gave evidence to the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee. Forming a government could take weeks or months.

CBS News and The New York Times, on the left, lead with the stalemate. CBS reports vote percentages and gives Golan's and Netanyahu's opposing appeals on Arab parties, plus Arab voters' accounts of hardship. The Times notes that exit polls showed the opposition ahead and that coalition talks could be long. The New York Post, on the right, leads with Netanyahu overtaking the exit-poll picture, using seat counts and Iran experts to argue a new Iran campaign is more likely. It leaves out Golan's appeal. Both sides agree that no bloc has a majority and that turnout was high. Middle East Eye differs by foregrounding Likud's fraud allegations, and France 24 by reporting Lebanese expectations of little policy change.