T. Belman. Netanyahu will have no trouble forming a government even if Yamina brings him to only 59 seats.. He can either try to get a couple of people to defect to Likud or he can negotiate with New Hope or Ra’am or even Gantz.
Right-wing bloc led by Likud and joined by UTJ, Shas, Religious Zionist Party and Naftali Bennett’s Yamina, receives 59 with 87% of votes counted..
By GIL HOFFMAN, JPOST MARCH 24, 2021 09:49
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrates with the Likud after Israel’s elections, March 23, 2021.
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to form a government for the seventh time in his three-decade political career, according to preliminary results from 89% of the regular polling stations reported by the Central Elections Committee.
Netanyahu’s bloc of Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism and the Religious Party was found to have won 59 seats along with Yamina, two short of a majority.
According to the preliminary results, Netanyahu’s Likud won 30 seats, Yesh Atid 18, Shas 9, Blue and White 8, United Torah Judaism, Yamina and Labor 7, New Hope, Yisrael Beytenu, the Religious Zionist Party 6 and Meretz 5. After initial indications that the Ra’am (United Arab List) Party had not crossed the 3.25% electoral threshold, current results give it five seats and the Joint List six.
Exit polls were mostly inconclusive throughout the dramatic post-election night. The three channels – 11, 12 and 13 – initially called a victory for Netanyahu’s Likud assuming Bennett, who immediately said he would do what is right for the country, joins the coalition.
Central Elections Committee head Orly Ades said preliminary results of the normal polling stations would be announced later in the day. Only after that, the Central Elections Committee will begin counting some 450,000 double envelopes, which are ballots from hospitals, nursing homes, emissaries, soldiers, prisoners and special polling stations for returnees at Ben-Gurion International Airport and for the sick and quarantined from COVID-19.
Netanyahu declared that his Likud had won in a speech he delivered at the Jerusalem International Convention Center at 2:30 a.m. He vowed to avoid a fifth election and called on politicians across the spectrum to enter a government he intended to build immediately.
He said that he has more than a double digit margin, the largest margin between the first and second parties in decades. “Israel is the world champion of vaccines,” Netanyahu said. “We brought millions of vaccines for everyone just like we made peace deals for everyone.”
“I don’t disqualify anyone from sitting with me,” he said, “because the state of Israel demands a stable government.”
Hours earlier, Netanyahu declared on Twitter that he had won “a giant victory.” Sources in Likud said Netanyahu would try to build a coalition as soon as possible, but Bennett’s associates said they were “not in Netanyahu’s pocket” and that joining his government was not a foregone conclusion.
Netanyahu called Yamina leader Naftali Bennett, who told him he was waiting for the final results and he would “act for the good of all the citizens of Israel.” Netanyahu also called the other leaders in his political camp and asked them to join a strong, right-wing government.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid boasted that “Netanyahu doesn’t have 61 seats but the change bloc does,” in a speech to activists of his Yesh Atid Party. He called parties in the anti-Netanyahu bloc and vowed to coordinate their next steps together.
The turnout of 67.2% was a drop of 4.3% since last March’s election in which the turnout was 71.5% and the lowest of the four elections of the past two years.
In a speech to his party’s activists, Sa’ar downplayed his defeat and asked to wait for final results. He vowed to not enter a Netanyahu-led government, though Likud officials said they would try to woo New Hope MKs.
According to the exit polls, the Likud won 30 seats on KAN and on Channel 12 and 31 on Channel 13. Shas won 9 on all three channels. UTJ won 6 on Channel 12 and 7 on Channel 13 and KAN. The Religious Zionist Party won 7 on Channel 12 and KAN, and Channel 13 gave it 6 seats. Yamina won 7 on all three channels.
Lapid led his party to 18 seats according to Channel 12 and KAN and 17 according to Channel 13. Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope Party won a disappointing 6 seats according to all three polls.
Yisrael Beytenu won 7 seats pm all three channels. Blue and White won 7 according to Channel 12 and 8 according to KAN and Channel 13. Labor won 7 according to Channel 13 and KAN and 8 according to N12. Meretz won 6 according to KAN and Channel 12 and 7 according to Channel 13.
After struggling throughout the campaign, Meretz easily crossed the 3.25% electoral threshold, according to the exit polls. The Joint List won nine seats on Channel 12 and KAN on Channel 13 and KAN.
Gantz thanked his supporters for demonstrating their confidence in him.
“Starting tomorrow, I’ll do my best to unite the pro-change block,” he said. “And if we are forced to face a fifth round of elections, I will vigilantly protect our democracy, rule of law and security, because Israel comes first.”
The exit polls came following a tense day of infighting with both political camps. Yamina fought for seats with the Religious Zionist Party, while Gantz accused Lapid of sending out false statements about Blue and White and other satellite parties.
Sarah Ben-Nun and Eve Young contributed to this report.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/germany-moves-to-ease-citizenship-for-nazi-victims-descendants/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299168
Places for the poor Joosies to run from the “Palestinian” state created by OSLO 2 and its aftermath?
I hope I am simply being paranoid.
On the other hand, the Jewish paranoia when it concerns Jewish survival has often been protective.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299173
They are dumping Netanyahu in spite of the loyalty pledge that they signed in February because he didn’t get (or probably won’t get) a 61-seat bloc.
Ra’am unexpectedly passed the threshhold and became the kingmaker and Netanyahu is already playing footsie with it:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-said-not-ruling-out-parliamentary-cooperation-with-raam/
If you recall the renewed activity and demands for another “conference” (which the “Palestinians” now are calling for) between Israel and themselves and which is supported by the most important countries (now including China) AND that
things start looking really bad indeed.
It looks like someone is trying to set up OSLO 2 (the Two-State Final Solution).
Apparently Netanyahu is more afraid of not being able to form a coalition than of possibly getting OSLO 2.
I meant to include Adam, a query about the 450,000 vores still to be counted. LIKUD may yet get enough for those extra seats, depending on where they are coming from, what section of the people. Does the IDF generally vote LIKUD??…..like the US Military usually votes Repub.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
If you spotted it in huge proportions, then the authorities should also see the fraud..Always assuming, of course, that they are not corrupted and want to check any fraud…….depending on which side the fraud benefits…of course.
Were any news comments made about the previuos elections in which you easily saw the fraudulent mischief….? I don’t recall myself if there were.
And they sound so serious and so dedicated in their descriptions of what they have to do to assure the election result.
This is from Ynetnews:
“Late-arriving ballot boxes caused delay in tallying of votes, CEC says
Polling body says holdup caused by 300 polling stations arriving at Knesset very late, at 180 of which, protocol pages were accidentally torn off and had to be recreated; counting of absentee ballots to begin once regular polling stations processed
Yaron Druckman, Sivan Hillaie |
Published: 03.24.21 , 21:28
Over 300 ballot boxes arrived at Knesset very late, causing an hours-long delay in the counting and processing of ballots cast in the election for the 24th Knesset, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) said Wednesday evening.
According to the polling body, the ballot boxes only arrived at Knesset around noon.
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Central Elections committee tallies ballots cast in the elections for the 24th Knesset (Photo: GPO)
At some 180 polling stations from all across the country, poll workers accidentally ripped out the original page from the protocols instead of the copy. Consequently, poll workers struggled typing in data received from said polling stations and had to recount the ballots.
About 90 out of 180 protocols were reproduced and added to the general count. After the process is complete the remaining polling stations will be processed and the updated results will be uploaded onto the CEC’s website. So far, the results from 11,831 polling stations have been tallied and processed.
The CEC released an update at 9:38am Wednesday, according to which 97% of regular polling stations have been processed, accounting for 88% of all votes cast.
Polling workers began processing the late-arriving ballots at noon and released the next update after 5pm.
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Polling station for quarantined citizens in Tel Aviv (Photo: EPA)
After an hours-long wait, ballots from some 90 more polling stations had been tallied, with 296 others left.
The CEC has yet to process votes from 46 polling stations in Tel Aviv, 38 in Jerusalem, 17 in Netanya, 15 in Petah Tikva, 7 in Bat Yam, 6 in Ashdod, 5 in Raanana, 4 in various kibbutzim, 3 in Haifa, 3 in Kiryat Bialik, 3 in Rishon Lezion, 2 in Nahariya, 1 in Kiryat Ono, 22 polling stations in non-Jewish localities and others.
The latest update at 5pm shows that Mansour Abbas’ Ra’am party has surpassed the electoral threshold and will be part of the 24th Knesset.
This CEC denied an earlier comment by its chairwoman Orly Ades that appeared to indicate the vote count has been held up due to the official in charge taking a nap.
The CEC will begin counting an estimated 450,000 absentee ballots in the evening hours once all regular polling stations have been processed. Poll officials said they hoped to conclude the tally by Friday morning.
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Quarantined citizen casts ballot at designated COVID-19 polling station (Photo: Gettyimages)
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In Israel, anyone voting outside a regular polling station assigned to them according to their place of residence has to arrive at a designated polling station where their ballot will be inserted into two envelopes.
The double envelopes are then all brought to Knesset to be counted by CEC representatives. The process takes longer than the regular count as officials cross-reference the person’s details on the outer envelope to ensure they have not also voted elsewhere. In case a citizen has cast a vote both at the polling station near their home and an absentee ballot, the latter will be disqualified.
After this is completed, the anonymous inner envelopes are amassed together and the ballots within can be counted like all other votes.”
This looks like election fraud so massive that it will make the 2020 U.S. election fraud look like chicken___t by comparison. The Israeli electoral system makes fraud incredibly easy. I spotted evidence of election fraud in all three of the previous elections in the past four years. But this time, the fraud is assuming truly gargantuan proportions.