Israel General Election Vote Count at 62%... Netanyahu's Right-Wing Bloc Expected to Easily Exceed Majority

Expected 69 Seats Far Exceeding Majority of 61
Ban Netanyahu Coalition Faces Challenge to Maintain Lowest Vote Share

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As more than 60% of the votes have been counted in Israel's general election, there are even forecasts that the right-wing bloc led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is expected to return to power, will secure more than 69 seats, well above the majority.

On the 2nd (local time), according to local media such as The Times of Israel, the Israel Election Committee announced that the vote counting rate was at 62.4% that morning. While the right-wing bloc led by former Prime Minister Netanyahu maintains the lead, some predict that the right-wing bloc will secure 69 seats, far exceeding the majority (61 seats) out of the total 120 seats.

The right-wing Likud party led by former Prime Minister Netanyahu secured 33 seats, the far-right coalition party Otzma Yehudit won 14 seats, the ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Shas obtained 12 seats, and the conservative Jewish political alliance United Torah Judaism (UTJ) secured 10 seats, respectively. However, The Times of Israel reported that the number of seats per party may change depending on the additional vote counting results.

Earlier, exit polls released immediately after the voting ended the previous day predicted that the right-wing bloc would secure 61 to 62 seats. Unlike the strong performance of the right-wing bloc, some parties participating in the "anti-Netanyahu coalition" led by current Prime Minister Lapid failed to surpass the minimum vote threshold (3.25%) required to enter the parliament.

In particular, the current vote share of the left-wing party Meretz is 3.17%, and the Arab party Ra'am is only 2.47%. Another Arab party, Balad, also failed to reach the parliamentary entry threshold with an interim vote share of 2.75%. If these parties fail to exceed the minimum vote threshold, the number of seats for the anti-Netanyahu coalition is expected to fall short of the previously anticipated 55 to 57 seats.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.