Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory in Israel’s third election within a year, even as the country looked set for further political deadlock after early counts suggested he was still short of securing a historic fifth term. By Tuesday morning, with 90% of the votes counted, the prime minister’s Likud party appeared to be ahead with 36 seats, with a total of 59 for his rightwing alliance.
Critically, he was just two seats shy of a 61-seat parliamentary majority and, if the final tally remains the same, would only be able to form a government in the coming weeks by enticing rival politicians to join him.
Responding to the results, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian envoy to the UK, said Israeli voters had “rewarded hate, corruption and the promise to annex the occupied territories”, referring to Netanyahu’s recent promises to take more Palestinian land.
Article submitted by, Great Gazoo.