Benjamin Netanyahu won Israel’s parliamentary elections on Thursday. The caretaker Prime Minster Yair Lapid, the former’s biggest political rival, accepted defeat at the end of the two-day polling. He congratulated the former Israel prime minister.
The latest was the country’s fifth election in four years, in which Netanyahu got a majority of parliamentary seats. Now Benjamin Netanyahu may form what could be the most right-wing government in Israeli history.
As per the Central Elections Committee, 99% of ballots were counted in which Netanyahu’s right-wing party lead the results.
Benjamin Netanyahu to form right-wing government
Out of the 120 seats in parliament, Netanyahu and his right-wing allies took home a total of 64 seats. According to the Israeli electoral commission, his own Likud party received 32 seats, while ultra-Orthodox parties gained 18 seats and a far-right coalition garnered 14 seats.
With this victory 73-year-old Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister will be back, after 14 months in opposition at the helm of the most right-wing government in the country’s history of 74 years.
Yair Lapid congratulates Benjamin Netanyahu
Lapid’s office stated, “Prime Minister Lapid congratulated Opposition Leader Netanyahu on his victory in the elections, and updated him that he has instructed his entire office to prepare an organized transition of power”.
The extraordinary period of political gridlock was about to come to an end as Religious Zionism, Netanyahu’s Likud party, and its ultra-Orthodox Jewish supporters were poised to win a commanding majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament. Even at this juncture, the 73-year-old victor presently faces corruption charges, consistently denied by him.
President Isaac Herzog will allow Benjamin Netanyahu 42 days to form a government next Monday, with victory all but assured.
