Netanyahu fails to gain right-wing majority in final election tally

[brooklynite]

Source: Jerusalem Post

The Central Elections Committee completed the process of counting all the votes cast in Tuesday's election on Thursday afternoon, a committee spokeswoman announced.

The spokeswoman said it would now take time to verify the counting and to upload the new numbers to the system.

But Channel 12 reported that there were no new changes in the mandates of the parties since Thursday morning, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp with Yamina remained at 59 seats.

...snip...

Earlier Thursday, Religious Zionist Party leader MK Bezalel Smotrich has ruled out joining a government that is in any way supported by the Islamist Ra'am Party.


Read more: https://www.jpost.com/israel-elections/vote-count-ends-without-netanyahu-majority-663193

[ColinC]

1. That means Ra'am will only be able to form a government with the anti Netanyahu

Bloc.

[regnaD kciN]

3. Which would scarcely be surprising...

...but it also means that, if Ra'am joins such a bloc, the "Religious Zionist Party" will join Netanyahu's coalition, giving him a majority. If Ra'am doesn't join the opposition group, then Netanyahu will have a larger coalition than his opponents (albeit short of a majority), allowing him to be picked to form a government.

Heads, Netanyahu wins; tails, his opponents lose.

Either way, it looks like "Bibi, King of Israel" is going to be around for the foreseeable future. Same as it ever was.

[karynnj]

4. The supremist RZP is already counted in Netanyahu's block

They are saying they won't be in a government that is supported by the the Ra'am party. (That is what was reported, but it might be that they will accept those 4 votes - if they stay out of the government.)

Netanyahu's coalition has 52 seats. He likely will get Bennett's Yamina party whish has 7 seats. Therefore, different sources speak of either 52 or 59. The anti Netanyahu coalition has 57 seats.

Assuming that Bennett goes with Netanyahu, that means Ra'am is needed to get either party to 61 or over. BOTH coalitions have at least one party which does not want to be with the Arabs.

It seems that any coalition will be extremely shaky and unstable. It may be that Israel will have another election.

[ColinC]

5. They are already with Netanyahu.

Here is a graph of the coalition blocs and which parties are aligned with who right now. The only ones that are undecided are ra'am and yamina. Yamina said they won't join a bloc with Ra'am, and netanyahu's bloc won't get a majority with just Ra'Am, so my money is a coalition forming with Ra'Am joining the anti netanyahu bloc or just there being another election. It is definitely a "motley crew" as they've been saying.

[speak easy]

2. Next up, caretaker PM Netanyahu, announces election no. 5 :sarcasm:

Isn't the problem that, given the choice, the Israeli public would prefer someone else, but Netanyahu has his knee on Likud's neck.