Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud widens its winning margin to 7 seats as 99 pc of ballots counted

Likud leader, the outgoing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, has won a fourth term after a last-ditch electioneering blitz. As votes of the March 17 election were counted Tuesday night, Likud’s winning margin over its rival, the Zionist Union led by Yitzhak Herzog, widened from one seat to seven. With 99 percent of the count, Likud broke away from their early deadlock to 29 seats (of the 120-member Knesset) while the Zionist Union dropped to 24 (24 to 19pc). These figures turned the tables on the polls, which consistenly predicted a Herzog win, and boosted Netanyahu’s leverage for swiftly negotiating a new coalition with smaller partners.

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