Legislative in Israel: victory less broad than expected for Netanyahu

It took several days to count and list all of Monday's legislative ballots. Here, March 4, 2020 in Shoham. REUTERS / Ronen Zvulun

Text by: Guilhem Delteil Follow

The full results of Monday's legislative elections - which will not be final until next week - were announced on Thursday, March 5. For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party, the victory is less wide than he hoped and the situation for the outgoing head of government looks complicated.

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From our correspondent in Jerusalem,

With 36 deputies, Likud is once again the main force in the Israeli parliament, and this result is the party's best score since it was led by Benyamin Netanyahu.

But the victory still has a bitter taste for the outgoing Prime Minister. He failed in his quest for an absolute majority: for this he lacked three seats for his party and his allies.

Facing him, he therefore has a majority opposition on the benches of Parliament. Bleu-Blanc, the formation of Benny Gantz, records a setback but limits losses with 33 deputies.

The parties of the left, which had united in the hope of returning to their electoral base, they plunged into the crisis and lost another three seats. Avigdor Liberman maintains his party's score.

In the ranks of the opposition, the winner is in reality the United List, a coalition of Arab parties which, with 15 elected representatives, obtains there the best score in its history.

But if the opposition is in the majority, it is also heterogeneous. Benny Gantz and Avigdor Liberman repeated that they would not govern with the Arab parties. And without them, there is no majority.

But if a government coalition seems complicated to build, that does not prevent alliances of circumstances, as when it comes to blocking the road to Benjamin Netanyahu.

► Read also: Anti-Netanyahu political maneuvers in Israel

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  • Israel
  • Benyamin netanyahu

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