Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Falls Short Of Majority

The results leave neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot with the 61 seats required to form a government independently.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition remained well short of a parliamentary majority Thursday.

With 93.8% of ballots counted, Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc was projected to win 53 seats in Israel’s 120-member knesset. That’s compared with 48 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.

The two predominantly Arab parties were projected to secure a combined 19 seats. That brings the potential anti-Netanyahu parliamentary majority to 67.

However, the results leave neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot with the 61 seats required to form a government independently, raising the possibility of difficult negotiations or another election.