The suspense is over. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in his long-desired goal of obtaining a majority with his religious and far-right allies to once again tread the highest steps of power.
Despite his trial for corruption, Mr. Netanyahu and his allies from the ultra-Orthodox parties and the far-right “Religious Zionism” list won 64 mandates out of the 120 in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, three more than the threshold of the majority, the electoral commission announced on Thursday evening.
Shortly before, outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who had ousted Mr. Netanyahu from power last year by putting together a motley coalition that has since imploded, contacted his rival to congratulate him on this victory. “The State of Israel is above all political considerations. I wish Netanyahu success, for the sake of the people of Israel and the State of Israel,” Lapid said.
According to the electoral commission, Mr. Netanyahu’s “right-wing bloc” won 64 seats – 32 for his party, the Likud; 18 for the two Orthodox parties; 14, a record, for the far right – in what could be the most right-wing government in the country’s history, according to analysts.
Centrist Lapid’s Yesh Atid (“There is a future”) party won 24 seats, its center-right ally Benny Gantz 12 seats, followed by 10 seats for two other parties and five for the Arab Raam party, which had also supported his coalition, for a total of 51 deputies. The Arab Hadash-Taal party won 5 deputies.
In the Israeli proportional system, parties must obtain 3.25% of the vote to enter Parliament, a minimum rate giving them de facto four deputies. However, two small parties hostile to the Netanyahu camp (and whose elected officials could have deprived him of a majority) – the left formation Meretz and the Arab party Balad – harvested respectively 3.16% and 2.90% of support .
Tough negotiations ahead
Nicknamed “Bibi”, Mr. Netanyahu had not left politics as his opponents wanted last year, but had clung to the post of leader of the opposition with the objective of returning to business and eventually to have the deputies vote for immunity and to cancel his trial for corruption.
Over the next few days, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose function is mainly symbolic, should officially mandate Mr. Netanyahu to form a government.
According to the press, the former prime minister has already chosen Yariv Levin, one of his relatives, to begin talks which promise to be complicated, in particular with the “Religious Zionism” group. The leader of this party, Bezalel Smotrich, has indicated that he wants the Ministry of Defense, and his number 2, Itamar Ben Gvir, that of Public Security, two key positions at the forefront of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“It is time to bring security to the streets, to restore order, to show who is in charge. It is time to kill a terrorist who is carrying out an attack,” he said.