Posted on 03/17/2015 1:48:53 PM PDT by Star Traveler
Exit polls released after the close of voting in Israel's national election show that the race is too close to call.
Israel's Channel 1 and Channel 10 both said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union secured 27 seats each in the 120-seat Knesset. Channel 2, meanwhile, have Likud 28 seats and the Zionist Union 27. The numbers were published by Haaretz.
What that is likely to mean is, as NPR's Emily Harris tells our Newscast unit, Israel's new government won't be immediately known.
Emily says:
"The new government will need approval from a majority of the newly elected parliament. No party has ever won a straight majority in Israel, so the leader of the party with the most votes gets several weeks to try to negotiate a coalition among parties with sometimes very different agendas. For a while during this tight race, there was talk that the center-left Zionist Union party led by Yitzak Herzog and the center-right Likud party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could potentially join the same government. Netanyahu ruled that out in the last days of campaigning."
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
it looks like American left wing media is trying to draw it out....
Bibi’s message on Facebook:
“Against all odds, a great victory for the Likud, a great victory for the national camp led by the Likud, a great victory for Israel.”
There are more parties to Netanyahu’s right than to his left, so a 27-27 tie means Netanyahu will likely stay on as Prime Minister.
Sorry leftist NPR, Netanyahu has been declared the winner almost everywhere except the USA media.
Netanyahu won! He claimed victory.
The man is Israel’s Comeback Kid!
I would be cautious and not depend on Exit Polls. The official results come out Wednesday. Polling is good for estimates and seeing how things are going during an election, but I’ve seen Exit Polling go bad before. I’ll feel much better with the official result on Wednesday.
Our local NY news station just reported that Bibi has declared victory moments ago.
Likud plus Jewish Home = 36 Zionist Union plus Meretz = 32.
Netanyahu has a decided advantage in forming the next government.
I heard that he did, but I would still like to know the official results, and those don’t get released until Wednesday.
About time I heard good election news even though It’s not in my back yard.
Two presidential failure elections and a feel good moment last November that lasted about a week or so be for the RINOs started sucking 0bamas @ss!
This is a critical election. Netanyahu is doing far better than our leftist media had portrayed. Why am I not surprised?
NPR (Huh?) Article Date / Time Stamp:
March 17, 2015 7:22 AM ET = 9 Hours Ago.
Superseded by the following:
Netanyahu Calls Bennett
Aruz Sheva ^ | 3/17/2015 22:40
Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, called Jewish Home Chairman, Naftali Bennett, on Tuesday night. Bennett congratulated the PM on his victory.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3268908/posts
Local Israel Time: 22:40 = 21 minutes ago....
Well, if his new government holds together, then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in Israeli history as the longest serving Prime Minister ever!
Good info. Hard numbers, thanks! CNN should be covering this real time. I don’t expect the bimbo babes at Fox to care.
No, it was time-stamped one hour ago ... take a look again.
Actually the “hard numbers” won’t be released until Wednesday (Israeli time). Right now they are just based on various services and their Exit Polling.
BI f’in BI!
Bibi is proclaiming victory and if I understand right from watching previous Israeli elections the military vote gets mixed into the count at the end.....It looks like Likud will win narrowly in the end.
The Arab List Party has been declared the 3rd place party.....
The next battle will be the Canadian parliamentary elections in October. PM Stephen Harper is one of Bibi’s close supporters and friends on the world stage so you know he has a bullseye on him.
The exit polling should hold up in the actual vote count.
The Likud could pick up a few more seats in the soldiers’ vote, to be counted later.
This past Thursday, the Likud appeared to slipping away fast. This is the Mother Of All Political Comebacks.
Obama won’t take defeat with good grace, that is for sure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.