No outright winner in Israeli vote

Exit polls indicated no clear victor emerged from Israel's landmark general election as votes continued to be counted on Wednesday. The outcome would set the stage for weeks of political horse-trading to form a new government — or trigger another round of polls — with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely to stay as caretaker in the interim.

On Tuesday, millions of Israelis cast ballots in the first general election since the Gaza conflict erupted in October 2023.

Voter turnout hit 77.7 percent, the highest rate recorded since 1999. The vote was widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 17-year tenure, which had already deeply split Israeli society on multiple issues even before the deadliest attack in the nation's history.

Three major Israeli broadcasters released exit polls showing neither Netanyahu's right-wing bloc nor his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats required for an absolute majority in the 120-seat parliament, known as the Knesset.

Channel 12 projected 52 seats for Netanyahu's bloc and 49 for Eisenkot's, with Arab parties taking the remaining 19 seats. State-owned Kan TV News and Channel 13 projected a tie between the two rival blocs, with 51 seats each, while Arab parties were expected to win 18 seats.

The Arab parties, which are not part of either bloc, could hold the balance of power, although both Netanyahu and Eisenkot had ruled out including them in their governing coalitions, Xinhua News Agency reported.

With 77 percent of votes counted, Netanyahu's Likud party has 20.8 percent and Eisenkot's Yashar party has 16.4 percent. The count from Israel's Central Elections Committee does not indicate how many seats each will have in the Knesset.

Definitive results were expected on Thursday.

Addressing supporters on Wednesday morning, an upbeat Netanyahu said that his Likud bloc had emerged as the largest party, and dismissed the idea of a partnership with Arab parties — whose constituents make up 20 percent of Israel's population — as treasonous, calling on his opponents to line up behind him.

"We must establish a strong, right-wing, nationalist government," he said. "We must not endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties."

Difficult path

While exit polls indicated Netanyahu would face a difficult path to return to office, he made it clear he had no intention of stepping aside. Even if he is unable to form a government, Netanyahu's rhetoric against the Arab parties could complicate any attempt by his opponents to partner with them, The Associated Press commented.

"The present government is driving the country into the ground," voter Angela Bengur said in Jerusalem.

In a sign of the deep uncertainty ahead, Eisenkot vowed at his campaign headquarters to form a government and promised Israelis "a new era — an era of hope".

There was also a celebratory mood at the headquarters of the United Arab List, the only Arab party to have briefly joined an Israeli governing coalition back in 2021. "We are not on the sidelines," party leader Mansour Abbas said.

While Israel is domestically divided on many issues, it is united in its approach toward Palestinians, neighboring Arab countries and Iran, said Rami Khoury of the American University of Beirut, and that the coming coalition negotiations would center on the pursuit of power.

"These are professional politicians. These are men and women whose morality and moral compass is the exercise of power," he told Al Jazeera.

"This is what the coalition-building process will be all about for the next two or three weeks."

If no one can cobble together a majority coalition, new elections could be held early next year. Israel held five elections between April 2019 and November 2022 because of a similar stalemate.

Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn