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| Israeli election: exit polls suggest result too close to call - live news | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| The Times of Israel is reporting a sombre atmosphere at the headquarters of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party – Jewish Power, in English. | |
| The paper says exit polls suggest the party, which opposes marriage between Jews and Arabs and with which Netanyahu entered a pact prior to the previous election, has not met the threshold. It quotes a prominent member, Benzi Gopstein, as saying: | |
| What is as clear as ever is that we were right all along when we said that without Otzma Yehudit there is no right wing government. Apparently, Bibi wants to make a leftist government with Gantz. | |
| According to Reuters, Netanyahu spent much of Tuesday engaged in a last-gasp pitch for votes via live video feeds on social media. | |
| At times, according to real-time viewership data at the bottom of the screen, fewer than 400 people were watching on a warm, sunny day when many Israelis were at the beach or shopping before the polls closed in the evening. | |
| Sticking to the same campaign playbook for the past week, Netanyahu repeated a relentless message to supporters of his right-wing Likud party as if his political life depended on it: “Get out and vote.” | |
| The alternative, he told them, claiming a strong turnout for left-leaning parties before any official statistics were in, would be a “disaster” – an end to his 10 consecutive years in power and a “leftist” government in charge. | |
| Political commentators dubbed it Netanyahu’s “oy gevalt” strategy, Yiddish slang for warnings of impending doom. | |
| Dressed in dark suit and tie, Netanyahu, 69, sat at a desk, a map of the Middle East in the background, and made his appeal in a rapid and imploring cadence worthy of fast-talking, “infomercial” pitchmen. | |
| As aides off-camera handed him cellular phones, he fielded calls from Likud activists across Israel, grasping the devices in one hand while holding up a prop – an oversized ballot emblazoned with his party’s name – in the other. | |
| “I am losing,” he told one supporter as a caption went up giving the man’s hometown as Nes Ziona, near Tel Aviv. Then it was onto the next call. | |
| “What’s happening in Rosh Ha’ayin?” Netanyahu asked, mentioning the town where his strongest challenger, former armed Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, lives. “Gantz’s neighbourhood voted at 7am,” Netanyahu, answering his own question, told the caller. | |
| Netanyahu’s battle for political survival looks set to continue for days or weeks, with the exit polls showing the race too close to call. | |
| The surveys by Israeli television stations showed Netanyahu’s Likud with 31-33 of the seats, compared with 32-34 for the centrist Blue and White. The exit polls indicated that Netanyahu’s ally-turned-rival, ex-defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, could be the kingmaker, with the backing of his far-right Yisrael Beitenu party critical to the formation of any ruling coalition. | |
| The ballot followed the inconclusive election in April, in which Netanyahu showed rare political weakness and failed to put together a government. Likud and Blue and White were tied at 35 seats in that election and would need to enlist support from smaller parties with a wide range of agendas for a coalition government. | |
| According to Channel 12 TV’s poll, Netanyahu’s Likud is on course to win 33 of the 120 parliamentary seats, with Blue and White likely to take 34. | |
| Israel’s election was too close to call, exit polls indicated, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party virtually level with Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White. | |
| According to the Reuters news agency, the exit polls by three Israeli broadcasters had Gantz slightly ahead or tying with Netanyahu, likely meaning days or weeks of wrangling over which candidate might form the next coalition government. | |
| Guardian Jerusalem correspondent Oliver Holmes was earlier at the polling station where Netanyahu voted.Hannah, 36, a government employee who refused to give last name, said she chose Avigdor Lieberman, as a tactical vote “to defeat Bibi” – as Netanyahu is widely known. The secularist has largely abandoned Netanyahu, accusing him of allying with ultra-Orthodox parties and leading the country towards a religious state.“When I grew in Jerusalem, most neighbourhoods were secular. Now mostare religious,” she said. “We feel it every day in Jerusalem.” She said she was “more of a leftist” but was voting for the right-wing candidate to take down Netanyahu and make a stand against ultra-Orthodox power.Shay, 54, said: “I voted for Bibi. He’s not perfect.”Asked about the corruption allegations and if he believed them, he said: “Maybe a bit. I’ve voted for Likud for 30 years.”His wife, who asked for anonymity, said there may be some truth in theallegations but she was not concerned. She said she supports Netanyahu too, but voted for a political alliance of pro-settlement right-wing parties in the hopes of a coalitiongovernment firmly on the right. | |
| Gantz is a security hawk who who describes himself as a centrist but also supports annexing Palestinian land. He has promised he would employ “disproportionate force” to fight off frequent rocket attacks from Gaza. As with every Israeli election, security has been a key issue, with Netanyahu’s opponents attempting to paint him as indecisive and conflict-averse. When the prime minister was whisked away by his security team at a campaign event during a Palestinian militant rocket attack from Gaza, Netanyahu’s political foes jumped on the incident to portray him as weak. | |
| He focused his campaign on Netanyahu’s alleged corruption and anti-democratic moves and outside his polling station on Tuesday, said his Blue and White party “will bring hope, we will be bring change, without corruption, without extremism”. | |
| Results are due shortly in Israel’s second election this year, following a campaign dominated by Benjamin Netanyahu and his vows to implement a far-right, ultranationalist agenda in exchange for a record fifth term as leader. His main rival is former army head Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party, who is neck and neck in polling with Netanyahu. | Results are due shortly in Israel’s second election this year, following a campaign dominated by Benjamin Netanyahu and his vows to implement a far-right, ultranationalist agenda in exchange for a record fifth term as leader. His main rival is former army head Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party, who is neck and neck in polling with Netanyahu. |
| More than 6.3 million people are eligible to vote at polling stations that will close at 10pm (8pm BST), after which exit polls will be reported. | More than 6.3 million people are eligible to vote at polling stations that will close at 10pm (8pm BST), after which exit polls will be reported. |
| Facing the prospect of criminal corruption indictments and hoping to extend his unmatched stint in the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu has promised to declare up to a third of the occupied Palestinian territories as part of Israel if he is re-elected. | Facing the prospect of criminal corruption indictments and hoping to extend his unmatched stint in the prime minister’s office, Netanyahu has promised to declare up to a third of the occupied Palestinian territories as part of Israel if he is re-elected. |
| His campaign has also demonised Israel’s large Arab minority as a fifth column that endangers the country, allied itself with the extremist Jewish Power faction, and warned that the election could be stolen by fraud in Arab areas. | His campaign has also demonised Israel’s large Arab minority as a fifth column that endangers the country, allied itself with the extremist Jewish Power faction, and warned that the election could be stolen by fraud in Arab areas. |
| With a razor-thin margin expected between Netanyahu and Gantz, an inconclusive result where neither has a clear path to forming a coalition government is a potential outcome. That deadlock could plunge Israel into another political crisis, with the prospect of weeks of tense deal-making or even a third election. | With a razor-thin margin expected between Netanyahu and Gantz, an inconclusive result where neither has a clear path to forming a coalition government is a potential outcome. That deadlock could plunge Israel into another political crisis, with the prospect of weeks of tense deal-making or even a third election. |
| A third key figure is Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former right-hand man, whose refusal to join a coalition government with Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties in May resulted in the second vote. His staunchly secular stance against religious politicians appears to have drawn support from the nonreligious right wing, and he could come out as the kingmaker who decides Israel’s next prime minister. | A third key figure is Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu’s former right-hand man, whose refusal to join a coalition government with Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties in May resulted in the second vote. His staunchly secular stance against religious politicians appears to have drawn support from the nonreligious right wing, and he could come out as the kingmaker who decides Israel’s next prime minister. |