Exit polls in Israel show Netanyahu election win, with one seat short of ruling majority
by Jordan Hilger, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Three major exit polls in Israel showed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Likud poised to win 36 to 37 seats as elections concluded Monday, far outstripping the 32 to 33 seats predicted for left-wing rival Benny Gantz and the Blue and White party.
If the polls prove accurate when final election results are calculated on March 10th, Netanyahu and his right-wing bloc consisting of Likud and the religious right-wing elements Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Yamina will be one seat away from a ruling majority in Israel’s 120-member Knesset at 60 seats.
A Blue and White official granted after polls in Israel closed at 10 p.m. Monday that Netanyahu would probably win but not obtain “necessarily enough [seats] to form a government,” making the premier beholden to either a defecting left-wing MP or the notoriously intractable Avigdor Lieberman.
Lieberman, of the secular nationalist Yisrael Beyteynu, was projected to win six to eight seats, effectively placing him in the kingmaker role that he has used to stymie Netanyahu in the last two election contests in April and September and prevent him from becoming Prime Minister.
Netanyahu himself faces a trial on March 17th for what he and the right say are trumped up, politically motivated charges for offering money to media for favorable coverage–a run-of-the-mill political machination, according to the Prime Minister–leaving him at the mercy of Israel’s High Court of Justice, which could use conflicting Israeli legal precedents to either oust him or allow him to govern.
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