![Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 28 October 2018 [ODED BALILTY/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GettyImages-1054578122-e1542456742228.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=75&strip=all&ssl=1)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [ODED BALILTY/AFP/Getty Images]
Incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost today’s general election to his biggest rival Benny Gantz.
Gantz has emerged victorious in the first exit polls, which survey voters but are not the final result. The exit polls have been known to change, but mark the first indication of voting patterns after the country’s polling stations closed at 22:00 local time [19:00 GMT, 20:00 BST].
In an i24 news poll, Benny Gantz’s Blue and White (Kahol Lavan) alliance received 33 seats, putting his party in first place, while Netanyahu has been placed second with 27 seats.
Meanwhile a poll by Israel’s Channel 12 put Gantz’s lead over Netanyahu even wider, predicting 37 seats for Gantz and 33 for Netanyahu.
LIVE BLOG: Breaking – Gantz wins Israel election, initial exit polls show
Other shock results include the fact that two high-profile parties could be out of the Knesset and might have failed to pass the 3.25% minimum threshold needed. First is former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party, while the second is Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s New Right (Hayemin Hehadash) party.
Exit polls and analysis will continue throughout the night until the official results are announced in the early hours of the morning.
Poster Comment:
Count every Javanka vote until Bibi wins.
#1: buckeroo To: hondo68 (#0)
buckeroo posted on 2019-04-09 21:44:20 Reply Private Reply
#2: Hank Rearden To: hondo68 (#0)
Hank Rearden posted on 2019-04-09 22:38:37 Reply Private Reply
#3: Hondo68 To: Hank Rearden (#2)
Gantz Victory Speech
Hondo68 posted on 2019-04-10 00:27:56 Reply Private Reply
#4: Tooconservative To: hondo68 (#0)
Other reports indicate that Bibi got 33 seats and his opponent got 37 seats. So it is not known how many each party got so far.
It doesn't matter which of these two parties won if they don't get 60 seats.
It matters which one can cobble together the votes of the minor parties in a coalition to reach the number of 60 seats in the Knesset.
Haaretz (reliably Lefty, anti-Bibi news source):
They conveniently ignored the fact that three out of the four same exit polls have the right-wing/religious bloc with a majority and only one (Channel 12) has the two blocs the same size (60 seats each). Netanyahu was actually more accurate in his statement when he said that “the right-wing bloc has won.”
The results so far aren’t great for him, but they are not a disaster either. He still has a good chance of forming his fifth government.
But these exit polls were all over the place and no one thinks they are very accurate so it will be days before we know the results of this election.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-04-10 05:03:07 Reply Private Reply
#5: Pinguinite To: hondo68 (#0)
Pinguinite posted on 2019-04-10 05:03:08 Reply Private Reply
#6: Hondo68 To: Pinguinite (#5)
The Green New Deal
Hondo68 posted on 2019-04-10 06:51:17 Reply Private Reply
#7: IbJensen To: hondo68 (#0)
This news source is a crock of shit.
IbJensen posted on 2019-04-10 10:08:08 Reply Private Reply
#8: Hank Rearden To: hondo68 (#3)
How's that "victory" looking now?
Hank Rearden posted on 2019-04-11 11:19:59 Reply Private Reply