Israel Prime Minister Yair Lapid congratulates Benjamin Netanyahu on election victory - CNN

Jerusalem CNN  — 

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him connected winning Israel’s elections, the premier minister’s bureau announced Thursday, conscionable nether 48 hours aft polls closed.

With astir each votes counted, the latest projections suggest erstwhile premier curate Netanyahu and allied parties volition instrumentality 64 seats successful the 120-seat Knesset. Lapid and his allies are projected to triumph 51. And Hadash/Taal, an Arab enactment that would not enactment either leader, is projected to triumph five.

Israel’s Central Election Committee aboriginal connected Thursday announced the last allocation of seats for the 25th Knesset, giving Netanyahu and his apt governmental allies 64 seats successful the legislature, capable for a governing majority.

President Isaac Herzog volition statesman consultations with politicians connected forming a caller authorities aft results are officially certified connected November 9, helium said Wednesday.

A Netanyahu instrumentality to the caput of authorities could spell cardinal shifts to Israeli society. A Netanyahu authorities would astir surely see the recently ascendant Jewish nationalist Religious Zionism/Jewish Power alliance, whose leaders see Itamar Ben Gvir, erstwhile convicted for inciting racism and supporting terrorism.

When asked by CNN connected Tuesday astir fears helium would pb a far-right authorities if helium returns to office, Netanyahu responded with an evident notation to the Ra’am party, which made past past twelvemonth by becoming the archetypal Arab enactment ever to articulation an Israeli authorities coalition.

“We don’t privation a authorities with the Muslim Brotherhood, who enactment terrorism, contradict the beingness of Israel and are beauteous hostile to the United States. That is what we are going to bring,” Netanyahu told CNN successful English astatine his polling presumption successful Jerusalem.

Netanyahu allies person talked astir making changes to the judicial system. That could enactment an extremity to Netanyahu’s ain corruption trial, wherever helium has pleaded not guilty.

Netanyahu himself has been 1 of the main issues not lone successful Tuesday’s predetermination but successful the 4 that preceded it, with voters – and politicians – splitting into camps based connected whether they privation the antheral universally known arsenic Bibi successful powerfulness oregon not.

Part of the trouble successful gathering a unchangeable authorities implicit the past 4 elections has been that adjacent immoderate governmental parties that hold with Netanyahu connected the issues garbage to enactment with him for idiosyncratic oregon governmental reasons of their own.

The predetermination was marked by the highest turnout since 2015. The Central Election Committee said 71.3% of eligible voters formed their ballots, which was much than successful immoderate of the past 4 elections that produced stalemates oregon short-lived governments.