Israel's Radical Right Claims Victory as Netanyahu Emerges With Slight Edge After Tight Race

I'll Be BACK

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to fend off a strong challenge from the country's opposition leader in parliamentary elections Tuesday, emerging from an acrimonious campaign in a slightly better position to form Israel's next government.

But with the sides nearly evenly divided, a victory by Netanyahu's Likud Party still was not guaranteed. His chief rival, Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union, said he would make "every effort" to form a government, and an upstart centrist party led by a former Netanyahu ally-turned-rival was set to be the kingmaker. The country now heads into what could be weeks of negotiations over the makeup of the next coalition.

Both Netanyahu and Herzog will now compete for a chance to form a coalition that commands a majority in the 120-seat parliament, a daunting task in Israel's fractured political landscape. Netanyahu appeared to have a better chance of cobbling together a government with right-wing and religious parties that he calls his "natural allies." Herzog would have to appeal to more ideologically diverse parties.

Read more: Israel's Netanyahu Emerges With Slight Edge After Tight Race

Israel: On eve of election, Herzog vows: I will be Israel's next prime minster - by Moran Azulay

"I promise: I will be a prime minister to everyone. For right and left, for settlers, Haredim, Druze, Arabs, Circassians. I will be prime minister for the center and for the periphery, for students and senior citizens," Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog said Monday, on the eve of the elections to Israel's 20th Knesset. 

His promise came as election candidates made their final appeals to voters on Monday, the eve of an election that will determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can secure another term in office. The latest polls have shown Netanyahu's Likud party trailing the centrist Zionist Union by about four seats.  

Herzog focused on centrist voters, taking direct aim at Yesh Atid voters. Netanyahu for his part focused on shoring up rightwing voters, whose shifting support for parties like the Bayit Yehudi have bled the Likud in the polls.

"After a long period of division, I will unite Israel. For that goal I need your voice. The power to lead a change is in your hands. A change we have long hoped for. Tomorrow we can do it – together."

On the final day of campaigning Monday, Netanyahu visited Har Homa, a Jewish development in east Jerusalem that is viewed as an illegal settlement by the Palestinians and the international community.

Read more: On eve of election, Herzog vows: I will be Israel's next prime minster - Israel News, Ynetnews

Israel: Elections : Livni and Herzog merge in Zionist Union to oust Netanyahu | euronews, world news

Running mates former justice minister Tzipi Livni and Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog are not an obvious electoral alliance teaming up against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to see who will govern Israel.

She quit the traditional Likud party of the right to join the Kadima centrists before she formed the liberal Hatnuah party. He’s a socialist. Together, they head the centre-left Zionist Union, with a mantra ‘to defend a Jewish and democratic state’.

Livni packs significant political weight in the contest, Herzog less. The prime minister’s experience puts Herzog in the shade, many say the same goes for charisma.

Herzog says: “We need to join forces, we need to unite, we need to work together to win; it’s either us or him.”

Determination wins points with the anyone-but-Netanyahu voters. Herzog is 54, a lawyer elected to the Knesset in 2003 after serving as government secretary in Ehud Barak’s cabinet. After that he was construction minister in Ariel Sharon’s government, then handled tourism under Ehud Olmert and Netanyahu. When Labour quit that coalition, so did Herzog.

In 2013, the son of a former Israeli president and grandson of a one-time chief rabbi was elected to chair his party. But its reputation has been suffering so much that he opted not to run under its banner alone now but to team up with Hatnuah, meaning The Movement (established in late 2012).

Read more: Livni and Herzog merge in Zionist Union to oust Netanyahu | euronews, world news