Israelis await final election results as difficult choices lie ahead
JERUSALEM — Israelis on Thursday waited for final election results to confirm what they see taking shape: No majority of parliament seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, or for the array of parties seeking to unseat him. Difficult decisions lie in the weeks ahead, including whether some Jewish and Arab parties would team up in a historic alliance, or whether some parties that campaigned on ousting Netanyahu would toss that aside and join forces with the deeply divisive prime minister. While this plays out, Netanyahu remains in charge. Final results could come as early as Thursday evening after about a half-million absentee ballots are counted from military personnel, diplomats, people in prisons and hospitals, and others. They are not expected to sway the results dramatically. Local media projected 53 parliament seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 48 seats for opposition parties and 19 for Arab-led ones, which also want Netanyahu out. Some rally in support of a coalition with Arab-led parties The chief rival to Netanyahu, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot , in his first
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