According to the first exit polls, the opposition bloc facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would hold a slight lead over the outgoing coalition.
The first exit polls conducted outside polling stations in Israel give the opposition bloc a slight edge over the camp of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These estimates, which should be treated with caution until the official count is complete, point to a particularly tight election.
The legislative vote pits two blocs with fragile balances against each other. On one side, the coalition led by Mr. Netanyahu is seeking to retain its majority in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, which has 120 seats. On the other, an alliance of opposition parties, bringing together formations with diverse political sensibilities, hopes to gather enough votes to form an alternative government.
Exit polls are usually used by the media to anticipate the overall direction of the vote. Their margin of error can nonetheless be significant, particularly in a proportional system such as Israel's, where the electoral threshold for entering the Knesset and the transfer of votes largely determine the final distribution of seats. The definitive results, tallied after the ballots are counted and postal votes are examined, could therefore significantly alter this first picture.
The campaign revolved largely around questions of security, the economic situation and the place of religion in public life. Voters were also sensitive to the debates over judicial reform, which has deeply divided Israeli society in recent years.
In the hours following the closing of the polling stations, party headquarters are awaiting the publication of official figures by the Central Elections Committee. It is on the basis of this data that consultations can begin with a view to forming a future majority, an exercise that can take several weeks in Israel, where coalitions are almost always made up of several parties.
The legislative vote pits two blocs with fragile balances against each other. On one side, the coalition led by Mr. Netanyahu is seeking to retain its majority in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, which has 120 seats. On the other, an alliance of opposition parties, bringing together formations with diverse political sensibilities, hopes to gather enough votes to form an alternative government.
Exit polls are usually used by the media to anticipate the overall direction of the vote. Their margin of error can nonetheless be significant, particularly in a proportional system such as Israel's, where the electoral threshold for entering the Knesset and the transfer of votes largely determine the final distribution of seats. The definitive results, tallied after the ballots are counted and postal votes are examined, could therefore significantly alter this first picture.
The campaign revolved largely around questions of security, the economic situation and the place of religion in public life. Voters were also sensitive to the debates over judicial reform, which has deeply divided Israeli society in recent years.
In the hours following the closing of the polling stations, party headquarters are awaiting the publication of official figures by the Central Elections Committee. It is on the basis of this data that consultations can begin with a view to forming a future majority, an exercise that can take several weeks in Israel, where coalitions are almost always made up of several parties.
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Source: La Nouvelle République