Israel's election too close to call

(Image credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images)

published 18 September 2019

The results of Israel's Tuesday election are starting to trickle in, and the race is too close to call.

With 26 percent of votes counted early Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party has 28.42 percent of the vote, followed by the centrist Blue and White Party with 25.4 percent. Exit polls showed that Netanyahu did not appear to have enough votes for a parliamentary majority, and the Central Elections Commission told the Times of Israel the final tally might not be known until Wednesday afternoon.

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Speaking to supporters late Tuesday, Benny Gantz of the Blue and White Party said that "starting tonight, we will work to form a broad unity government that will express the will of the people." At his rally, Netanyahu said the country "needs a strong and stable and Zionist government." He touted his relationship with his "close friend President Trump," and declared there can't be a government "that is being supported by anti-Zionist, Arabic parties that don't believe in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state."

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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.

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