Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would win the elections according to the first exit polls. The former president, who is being tried on charges of corruption, could obtain, by adding blocks, between 61 and 62 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, according to Israeli television.
These exit polls may differ from the final result of the elections, which is not expected until the end of the week, but the results point to a larger-than-expected right-wing victory. This is the fifth election held in Israel in less than four years.
The campaign was shaken by the rightist irruption Itamar Ben-Gvir and its ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism bloc, which right now, according to Israeli television, would become the third most voted party with 15 seats in parliament.
[Israel registra una participación récord del 28,4% pese a votar por quinta vez en tres años]
Street safety and rising prices top voters’ list of concerns in a campaign marred by defections from Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s unlikely ruling coalition of right-wing, liberal and Arab parties, he said. Reuters.
Political issues have been overshadowed by the exaggerated personality who is now the top favorite to win these elections. His legal battles have fueled the stalemate in Israel’s political system since he was accused of bribery, fraud Y trust abuse in 2019.
At 73 years old, he has had the support of Ben Gvir and also from the far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich. The prospect of Ben-Gvir, a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and US terror lists, joining a coalition risks putting the West on alert.
The campaign, which began weeks after a brief conflict with the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza in August, has also unfolded against a backdrop of escalating violence in the occupied West Bank, with almost daily raids and clashes.
