According to Israeli media, it looks like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not form a government for the seventh time in his career.
After 97 percent of the vote has been counted, The Jerusalem Post reports that his Likud party and its political allies are stuck at 59 seats in the parliament of 120 members. After polling stations closed on Election Day, Tuesday, polls indicated that he would get just enough seats for another term.
The same newspaper already pays attention to party strategists who are considering the next elections. Above an article is the question: “Are we going to the fifth election?”
The ballot box was the fourth in two years on Tuesday due to the fragmented politics and the therefore ramshackle government coalitions that ended in an early ballot box. But Netanyahu has managed to become prime minister of a coalition six times in the past quarter-century.
If the formation of a coalition government fails, the country may have to vote again this fall.
A stable coalition can run the country for four years until the next election. The results of all polling stations must be announced on Wednesday, but there are still hundreds of thousands of votes by mail that must be counted.