ISRAEL-ELECTION/NETANYAHU Netanyahu claims victory in Israel election after hard right shift

Record ID: 399328

  • Title: ISRAEL-ELECTION/NETANYAHU Netanyahu claims victory in Israel election after hard right shift
  • Date: 18th March 2015
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (MARCH 18, 2015) (REUTERS) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU WALKING ON STAGE, WAVING AS CROWD CHEERS
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACCSGAK2O09DQN0ZM0WLMP8HAB
  • Story Text: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel's election after exit polls showed he had erased his centre-left rivals' lead with a hard rightward shift in which he abandoned a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state.
    "Against all odds: a great victory for Likud," a beaming Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a speech at party election headquarters in Tel Aviv in the early hours of Wednesday (March 18). He said he had spoken to leaders of other right-wing parties and urged them to form a "strong and stable" government with him without delay.
    "Reality does not take a break," Netanyahu said after two television exit polls gave Likud a narrow lead over his centre-left challenger in the ballot.
    "He's a magician, he's a magician," the crowd chanted.
    Difficult coalition talks still lie ahead, in a politically divided country where no one party has ever won an outright majority in parliament.
    Isaac Herzog, Netanyahu's chief opponent and head of the centre-left Zionist Union, said earlier "everything is still open" and that he already had spoken to party leaders about forming a government.
    But after days in which Zionist Union appeared poised to defeat Netanyahu's Likud, the exit polls late on Tuesday (March 17) put the two parties in a dead heat. Netanyahu sought to seize the momentum, taking to Twitter to portray the photo finish as a triumph that defied earlier predictions.
    Political commentators said Netanyahu seemed to have the easier path to forming a cabinet, with the support of traditional rightist allies - which would put him on course to becoming Israel's longest serving leader. But he would also need the backing of kingmaking centrists, who were non-committal on their future moves after the polls closed.
    Netanyahu pulled off the feat with a pitch for ultranationalist votes in the final days of the hard-fought campaign, using tactics that could deepen a feud with the White House.
    Netanyahu has focused on Iran's nuclear programme and militant Islam. But many Israelis had said they were tiring of the message, and the centre-left campaigned on social and economic issues, surging in polls before election day.
    An exit poll for Channel 2 TV gave Likud 28 seats and Zionist Union 27 in the 120-member parliament. Channel 10, revising its survey several hours after voting ended, put that margin at 27 seats for Likud to 26 for Zionist Union. Channel 1 had both parties tied at 27.
    An initial count gave Likud a 32-24 seat lead over Zionist Union but that was based on votes from 57 percent of the polling stations. Final results were not expected until later on Wednesday.
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