Israeli exit polls suggest Netanyahu is within reach of majority

(Image credit: Amir Levy/Getty Images)

The endless Israeli election cycle may have finally reached its terminus, though there's still a chance for round four.

Exit polls Monday are suggesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party was victorious over his center-right rival Benny Gantz's Blue and White Party in the country's third parliamentary elections within the last year. Netanyahu is also expected to add extra spots in a coalition with his religious and nationalist allies to bring the total up to 60. If the results — which are often imprecise at this stage, per Al Jazeera — hold when voting is finalized Tuesday, that would still fall one shy of a majority in the 120-seat parliament, however.

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Gantz maintains he's willing to forge a coalition with Likud, but he won't accept Netanyahu — who is under investigation for corruption — as its leader. Read more at Al Jazeera and Reuters.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.