Israel: no winner declared, parties discuss coalitions

With vote counting still ongoing, there is no clear winner in the elections in Israel. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc nor his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, won the 61 seats in Parliament needed to form a majority.

With 85% of the votes counted, Netanyahu's coalition secured 54 of the 120 seats in Parliament. Eisenkot's block had 49 vacancies. On the other hand, the Arab parties would reach a record 17 seats, which led the leader of the mostly Arab left-wing coalition to defend the creation of "a true Jewish-Arab alliance".

However, most of the Jewish opposition in Israel has ruled out governing alongside Palestinian-led parties who, during the election campaign, were targets of racist accusations. Netanyahu never tired of portraying Palestinian citizens as an enemy within the state.

Now, Benjamin Netanyahu's party accuses the Arab-majority parties of having "stolen" the elections. Added to this is the desperate appeal of the far-right minister, Ben Gvir, to arrest its leaders.

Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, cites unsubstantiated allegations of foreign interference. Israeli police and the central elections committee have said there is no evidence of voter fraud.

The vote count is expected to end tomorrow (30th), and the official results of the election will be formally published on November 4th.

The parties will have to negotiate and try to reach a coalition that has a majority in Congress.