Call for Israel unity government as election too close to call
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A national unity government has been called for in Israel after exit polls provided no clear winner in the country’s second general election of 2019.
The centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz is projected to win between 32 and 34 seats, and PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party 30 to 33 seats.
Leading politician Avigdor Lieberman has put himself forward as a kingmaker by making the call for current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party to join with the Blue and White party and his own Israel Beitenu party to form a government.
Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beitenu party, speaks after early exit polls in the general election, during a rally with supporters in Jerusalem, Israel, 17 September 2019. . EPA-EFE/YONATAN SINDEL
Netanyahu called the snap vote after failing to form a governing coalition in the wake of an election in April.
Negotiations on the formation of a new coalition are expected to start as soon as the preliminary results come on Wednesday morning.
Speaking to supporters early on Wednesday, Netanyahu promised that he would build the next government in a speech to his supporters at Expo Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu spoke half an hour after Blue and White leader Benny Gantz vowed to do the same. Amid chants of “no to a unity government,” the prime minister said all of the Likud’s current coalition partners want to build a coalition.
“All of the Likud’s partners want to move forward together to build a strong government and not permit a dangerous anti-Zionist government,” Netanyahu told the crowd.
A revised exit poll released by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan early on Wednesday projected that Blue and White would win 32 seats and Likud 31 in the 120-seat Knesset.
In third place was the Israeli Arab Joint List with 13 seats; followed by Mr Lieberman’s secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party with nine; the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties with nine and eight respectively; the right-wing Yamina party with seven, and the left-wing Labour-Gesher and Democratic Union alliances with six and five respectively.
Channel 12 News put Blue and White and Likud level on 32 seats, while an updated poll Channel 13 News predicted that Blue and White would win 32 seats and Likud 30.
