ISRAEL-ELECTION/PARTY REACTIONS Netanyahu draws even with Herzog, according to exit polls

Record ID: 399313

  • Title: ISRAEL-ELECTION/PARTY REACTIONS Netanyahu draws even with Herzog, according to exit polls
  • Date: 17th March 2015
  • Summary: MORE OF LIKUD SUPPORTERS MEMBERS OF ZIONIST UNION PARTY CHEERING, WAVING FLAGS VARIOUS OF ZIONIST UNION PARTY MEMBERS DANCING
  • Embargoed: 1st April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SIKBA73ZI3FE7NBMXBLX32YF
  • Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu closed a gap with his centre-left rival, Isaac Herzog, in a hard-fought Israeli election on Tuesday (March 17), television exit polls showed, leaving both men with a chance to form a governing coalition.
    A new centrist party, Kulanu, led by a former member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, seemed destined to emerge the kingmaker in possibly weeks of coalition negotiations.
    Channel 10 and Channel 1 said Likud and Herzog's Zionist Union had secured 27 seats each in the 120-member Knesset, while Channel 2 gave Netanyahu a narrow edge, with 28 to 27 for his challenger.
    Supporters of both the Likud party and Zionist Union celebrated what appeared to be a too close to call race.
    "At the beginning of the race I expected that we can crash or we can win, and we won bigly (SIC)," said a Likud supporter named Oren Hazan.
    "They tried to eulogize us but we won. You have to understand this is a great victory for the Likud. We had a feeling that we will end at a tie or less than that but at the end of the day we are in the lead," added a tearful supporter, Moshe Garyo.
    One of the Zionist Union candidates and Knesset member, Michal Biran, said it was yet to be over.
    "First of all the results are amazing. Three months ago we had 10 seats in one of the polls, now we have 27 seats. It's am amazing.. the public decided to trust us with 27 seats, and it's amazing. I think we won't know who will form the coalition, it will take some time. It's not over yet," she told Reuters.
    Final results are not expected until early on Wednesday morning.
    In the final days of the campaign, opinion polls had given Zionist Union a lead of three to four seats over Likud, a margin that appeared to give Herzog a fighting chance to score an upset over the prime minister.
    The election had turned into a referendum on whether Israelis had grown tired of the leader they call "Bibi" after nine years in power, spread over three terms.
    Netanyahu took extraordinary steps to drum up support from right-wing voters, reversing policy on the eve of the election with an announcement that he would never allow a Palestinian state.
    On election day he accused left-wing groups of trying to remove him from power by bussing Arab Israeli voters to polling stations, a statement that drew a sharp rebuke from Washington.
    If the exit polls prove accurate, Netanyahu could have a smoother path towards a coalition, with right-wing and religious parties his traditional allies.
    But Herzog also could prevail, should Kulanu and a Joint Arab List, which the polls predicted would be Israel's third largest party, throw their support behind him.
    A national unity government grouping both major parties is also possible. Before the vote, Netanyahu rejected such a coalition.
    A fourth Netanyahu term would probably also prolong his prickly relationship with Israel's main ally, the United States, at least as long as Barack Obama is in the White House.
    No party has ever won an outright majority in Israel's 67-year history, and it is up to Israel's president, after consulting with parties that won election to parliament, to choose a leader to try to form a coalition.
    The nominee will have up to 42 days to negotiate a coalition, and it may be mid-May at the earliest before Israel has a new government.
    Moshe Kahlon, the leader of Kulanu, a centrist party that broke away from Likud, is seen as perhaps the most important "kingmaker", with the exit polls giving him 9-10 seats. A former communications minister credited with bringing down mobile phone prices, Kahlon could ally with either Netanyahu or Herzog.
    Zionist Union supporter and part advisor, Harry Newman said he hoped Kulau, Kahlon, would chose to support Herzog.
    "It shows a very closely fought battle here, 27 each. The person who will decide who is the next prime minister of the state of Israel will be Moshe Kahlon. I hope he makes the right decision . As a man who is what is called Hevrati (social), interested in social issues, he is the man who has to chose Isaac Herzog and the Mahane Hazioni (Zionist Union)," Newman said.
    Yair Lapid, the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, could also ally with either side. According to the exit polls, he will receive 11-12 seats. But he does not sit comfortably with religious parties, making him less flexible in coalition talks.
    If the centre-left is to assemble a coalition, it will also need the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, which the polls said would win 13-14 seats.
    Another factor is the parties from Israel's 20 percent Arab minority, which for the first time have united under one list that exit polls said would win 12 to 13 seats.
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