Israeli Elections: Gantz Slightly Ahead of Bibi, the Hardest Part is Yet to Come

Based on the data from the Israeli Election Commission (CEC) regularly updated on the website, Benny Gantz's Blue and White party won 32 seats, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud won 31 seats in parliament.

However, this does not represent the final result but the epilogue of counting a total of 4,290,114 votes or 67.10% of the ballots published on Thursday at 08:38 AM.

The current result looks like this:

Blue and White: 25.88% (32)
Likud: 25.13% (31)
Joint List: 10.59% (13)
Shas: 7.47% (9)
Yisrael Beytenu: 7.03% (9)
UTJ: 6.09% (8)
Yemina: 5.82% (7)
Labor-Gesher: 4.80% (6)
Democratic Union: 4.33% (5)
Otzma Yehudit: 1.87% (did not pass the lower threshold of 3.25%)

Based on the results so far, the center-left bloc can count on 56 seats, and the center-right bloc on 55 seats in the Knesset, without counting Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party, which has 9 seats.

Although neither of them has the necessary majority support for such a move, rivals Gantz and Netanyahu have announced the formation of a government. Netanyahu vowed to form a 'Zionist government dedicated to Israel as a nation-state for the Jewish people,' while Gantz emphasized that the 'era of polarization and antagonism' is behind Israel, and that the way forward is in 'unity and reconciliation,' and that efforts have begun to form a 'broad unity government.'

As was the case in the previous elections in April, both party leaders will intensify negotiations with smaller parties (but also with each other) regarding possible coalitions. 

While awaiting the final result...

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin stated immediately after the elections that he would pressure party leaders to form a government, in order, among other things, to avoid the potential need for new elections, as he was forced to do in April.

Parties that have secured entry into parliament will begin negotiations with the president on Sunday, who will shortly thereafter appoint a representative he deems most competent to form a coalition government.

For a long time, it has been assessed that Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the national and secularist Yisrael Beytenu, will play a key role, whose goal is a unity national government in which his party stands shoulder to shoulder with the victorious Likud and Blue and White – even though it has only won 9 seats.

Rejecting Netanyahu's attempt to enter into a coalition with his party and thus succeed in forming a government, the experienced politician Lieberman will once again make a chess move on which, among other things, depends whether a government will be formed in a timely manner.

However, for Lieberman to succeed in his vision of a unity national government, he needs to convince Gantz to enter into a coalition with Netanyahu, with whom he has already said he does not want to cooperate due to corruption charges.

However, the biggest challenge lies ahead for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who must overcome the stress caused by the election failure and prepare for the final hearing in the Israeli court scheduled for the first week of October.