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Israel election: Netanyahu and rival Gantz tied with 97% of vote counted – as it happened Polling suggests the race for prime minister will be tight, as Benjamin Netanyahu runs against Benny Gantz 

Full story: Netanyahu appears on track for victory despite tied result Updated 3d ago

Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife, Sara and Likud party members greet supporters during Likud’s party as the country waits to hear election results. Photograph: Amir Levy/Getty Images Mattha Busby (now), Kate Lyons and Adam Gabbatt (earlier) Wed 10 Apr 2019 11.53 BSTFirst published on Tue 9 Apr 2019 19.00 BST   

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3d agoClosing summary 4d agoElection day - in pictures 4d agoNetanyahu and Gantz tied at 35 seats with 95% of the vote counted 4d agoNetanyahu set to win most seats with 80% of the vote counted – Knesset website 4d ago‘A night of tremendous victory’ – Netanyahu’s speech 4d ago'We are the ones who won,' Gantz gives speech to supporters 4d agoVoters have "said no to peace and yes to the occupation" – Palestinian official

3d ago11:53

Closing summary We will now bring to a close our coverage of the Israeli election, with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly deep in talks with ultra-Orthodox and right-wing parties to form a coalition. Thanks for reading. 

With 97% of votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is marginally ahead of Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party. Though

both parties appear set to win 35 seats each, Likud have 26.27% of the vote so far, while Gantz’s centrists have 25.95%. 

This leaves both parties well short of being able to form a majority government. However, Netanyahu appears best placed to form a government since the right-wing and religious parties appear to have won more seats than the Arab, centre and left parties.

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Potential kingmaker, the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman has ruled out recommending Gantz as the next prime minister. However, he stopped short of aligning himself with Netanyahu at this stage. Liberman quit as defense minister in November, criticising what he said was “the continued capitulation to terrorism” and citing “disagreements regarding the policy toward Hamas and the Gaza Strip”.

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Netanyahu’s office said he was deep in talks with ultra-Orthodox and other right-wing parties to form a coalition early on Wednesday, the Times of Israel reported

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Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurtz and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi were the first world leaders to congratulate Netanyahu, with Kurtz paying tribute to how the Israeli prime minister “gained the trust of the people of Israel in record numbers”.

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After the final three percent of votes are counted – which include those from diplomats and soldiers – the president will ask one of the party leaders to try to form a government. This is not necessarily the party with the most votes, but the one most likely to be able to win support of other parties to form a government.

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Earlier in the night both Netanyahu and Gantz claimed victory, with Gantz saying: “We are the ones who won” and Netanyahu declaring it was: “a night of tremendous victory”.

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If Netanyahu is able to secure a victory, this summer he will become Israel’s longest-ever serving leader. Re-election would also give him an important boost as he braces for the likelihood of criminal charges in a series of corruption scandals and would confirm Israel’s continued tilt to the right and further dim hopes of a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

FacebookTwitter 3d ago11:33

My colleague Oliver Holmes in Jerusalem has this explainer on yesterday’s election:

Who has won the Israel election and what happens next? Read more Updated at 11.33am BST FacebookTwitter 3d ago11:33 We’re doing something different … and we’d like to explain why. Our journalism now reaches record numbers around the world and more than a million people have supported our reporting. Unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – our journalism remains accessible to all, so more people have access to accurate information with integrity at its heart. This is The Guardian’s model for open, independent journalism. Our model enables people to support us in a way that works for them. Readers’ support safeguards our essential editorial independence. Make a contribution - The Guardian 3d ago11:23 The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is the second world leader to congratulate Netanyahu, in both English and Hebrew.

Chowkidar Narendra Modi ✔@narendramodi

My dear friend Bibi, Congratulations! You are a great friend of India, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to take our bilateral partnership to new heights. @netanyahu 62.7K 5:55 PM - Apr 10, 2019 Twitter Ads info and privacy

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FacebookTwitter 3d ago11:15 The Times of Israel is reporting that voting results in several Israeli settlements show more ballots were submitted than eligible voters, with the Union of Right-Wing Parties profiting from the apparent irregularities. 

In the northern West Bank settlement of Peduel, voter turnout was 113% with 894 ballots cast and 789 residents who were eligible to vote.

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In the southern West Bank settlement of Negohot, voter turnout was 143% with 125 ballots cast and 87 residents who were eligible to vote.

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In the ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement of Modiin Illit, voter turnout was 104% with 19,989 ballots cast and 19,103 residents who were eligible to vote.

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In the northern West Bank settlement of Bruchin voter turnout was 167%, with 385 ballots cast and 230 residents who were eligible to vote.

You can check the Knesset website with the results as they come in here, broken down by locality. FacebookTwitter 3d ago11:05 Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurtz is the first world leader to congratulate Benjamin Netanyahu, although all votes have not yet been counted. Sebastian Kurz(@sebastiankurz) I am looking forward to working with you in the future, for the benefit of the people of Israel and the people of Austria. April 10, 2019 FacebookTwitter 3d ago10:56 Likud Knesset member Miki Zohar has appeared to launch a campaign to exonerate prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the allegations facing him in three corruption cases, the Times of Israel reported.

“The people decided that the cases [against Netanyahu] aren’t criminal in nature,” Zohar said in an interview with the Kan public broadcaster on Wednesday morning. “The public thinks that there is a line that the courts and law enforcement should not cross — that’s the line the prime minister was on. You can’t cross this line and get to the point where you’re arguing that a politician speaking with the media committed a criminal act.” In another interview with the Walla news site, Zohar urged attorney general Avichai Mandelblit to “come to his senses” and drop the planned indictments against the prime minister on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu denies all the allegations. “We’re seeing the lie [the corruption allegations against Netanyahu] being sustained only by law enforcement authorities,” Zohar said. “I hope the attorney general comes to his senses and sees the public’s decision [on election day] and what it thinks about Netanyahu.” FacebookTwitter 3d ago10:37 An aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says the outcome of the election boosts the “extreme right-wing camp” in Israeli politics and raises Palestinian fears over the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank. In the final stretch of the campaign, Netanyahu pledged to annex vast swaths of the occupied West Bank and create further Israeli settlements, a move that would erode remaining hopes for Palestinian statehood. Over the weekend, plans for 3,600 new homes in the occupied territory were advanced by the Israeli defence ministry which legalised an outpost by agreeing to seize privately-owned Palestinian land in order to build a road to the settlement, the Times of Israel reported. “We will move to the next stage . . . I will impose sovereignty, but I will not distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements,” Netanyahu told Channel 12 News on Saturday night. “From my perspective, any point of settlement is Israeli, and we have responsibility, as the Israeli government. I will not uproot anyone, and I will not transfer sovereignty to the Palestinians.” Abbas aide Ahmed Majdalani tells the Association Press that Palestinians will seek the help of the international community to try to block any annexation plans.

Prior to the election, the senior Palestinian official told AP: “The Palestinian cause is totally absent in the Israeli elections, and when it comes, it comes only in a negative context. This is worrisome, because it tells us that we are going from bad to worse.” FacebookTwitter 3d ago08:50 Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White alliance, has tweeted: Good morning, fellas. Yes, Good morning! The reports tell their unfinished story. While there are dark skies, but there are no two things: 1) There is nothing final about them, because there may be electoral movements and we may be able to develop such political moves or others. 2) It is certainly not to conceal the sun of Hope. That we gave to the people and society in Israel. They, our constituents, asked for hope and we gave it to them. They wanted another way and we took it. So, comrades, ‘your enemies have fallen into view and his godbroken into thy heart’. Therefore, we do not retreat from our public duty to represent more than one million citizens who have asked us something else. An unprecedented historical achievement in the EMUs. We have something to be proud of and become.

Benny Gantz, leader of the Israeli Blue and White Party speaks to supporters on election night in Tel Aviv, Israel, 10 April 2019. Photograph: UPI/Barcroft Images Updated at 8.51am BST FacebookTwitter 3d ago08:27

A Palestine Liberation Organization representative says Israelis have chosen racism and permanent conflict by voting for candidates that are “unequivocally committed” to a “status quo of oppression”. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, said: Israeli voters have chosen their representatives. Regrettably, Israelis overwhelmingly voted for candidates that are unequivocally committed to entrenching the status quo of oppression, occupation, annexation and dispossession in Palestine and escalating the assault on Palestinian national and human rights. They have chosen an overwhelmingly rightwing, Xenophobic and anti-Palestinian parliament to represent them. Israelis chose to entrench and expand apartheid. The extremist and militaristic agenda, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, has been emboldened by the Trump administration’s reckless policies and blind support. This cynical alliance against Palestinian rights and the standing of the rules-based international order remains unchallenged by the rest of the international community, thereby reinforcing the rightist and populist agendas. The Palestinian people will overcome this dark and highly dangerous chapter and remain deeply rooted in our homeland. We are a resilient people and we will persist and forge alliances with like-minded and responsible international actors to create a counterbalance to the dangerous and reckless agenda and its adherence among other racist and fundamentalist governments, particularly in Israel. FacebookTwitter 3d ago08:16 This is Mattha Busby taking over from Kate Lyons. Haaretz are reporting that Benny Gantz has written to party members to say although its “looking bleak”, the possibility of “electoral shifts” remains. “It’s looking bleak but the results are not yet final. It’s possible that there will be electoral shifts, and that we can make certain political moves,” he wrote, according to the paper. “They wanted a different way and we showed it to them. We will not back down from our public duty to represent over a million people who asked us for something different. It’s an unprecedented historical victory. We should be proud.” However, the Times of Israel says the head of the secular right-wing nationalist party Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Liberman, has confirmed to Ynet

news site that it will either support prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or remain in opposition. “Either we join Netanyahu’s government or we remain in the opposition, we are also in the opposition, we understand the balance of power,” Liberman said. Lieberman, whose party appears to have won five seats, had previously backed Gantz in a row over the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict earlier this year, according to Ynet. Updated at 8.22am BST FacebookTwitter 3d ago07:11 Our correspondent, Oliver Holmes, has this wrap of the night’s results.

Israeli election: Netanyahu appears on track for victory despite tied result Read more FacebookTwitter 3d ago07:08 It appears that Arab parties have lost three seats in the Knesset in this election, after calls within the Arab community, which makes up almost a fifth of Israel’s population, to boycott the election. Likud was censured on Tuesday for sending monitors with body-cameras to polling stations with Arab constituents, which Arab politicians condemned as voter intimidation. A Likud party official defended the move, saying the cameras were deployed to ensure there would be no vote rigging. FacebookTwitter 3d ago06:47

Retired general Benny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu(R) look set to win one another’s home seats. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images The Times of Israel has reported that the two main contenders for prime minister are on track to win each other’s home seats. Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party is trailing behind Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likund party in Gantz’s working class hometown of Rosh Ha’ayin, though there is only about 300 votes in it. Whereas in Caesarea, where Netanyahu lived before becoming prime minister, Blue and White is ahead of Likud 52.6% to 24%. FacebookTwitter 3d ago06:28 With the election results so close, the Associated Press reports that the country now faces what could be weeks of political negotiations over the composition of a ruling coalition. FacebookTwitter 1 of 5 Newest Newer Older Oldest Topics  

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