Israel's Netanyahu appears to win re-election to record 5th term as prime minister

(Image credit: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have won re-election, after early exit polls had the race too close to call.

Israel's three main television networks on Wednesday called the election for Netanyahu; if victorious, this will be his fifth term in office, a record for an Israeli leader.

The right-wing Netanyahu and his centrist challenger, Benny Gantz, both declared victory on Tuesday, when the race was neck and neck. Netanyahu's Likud Party and Gantz's Blue and White alliance are projected to each win 35 seats, and if he is declared the winner, Netanyahu will likely form a coalition government with other right-wing and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties. The final results are expected by Friday.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Netanyahu has been the subject of several corruption investigations, and was indicted earlier this year; the details could not be released ahead of Tuesday's election, The Jerusalem Post reports, and it's likely someone will leak them on Wednesday. Over the weekend, Netanyahu vowed that if he won re-election, he would annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.