Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be heading towards victory in national elections, with more than two-thirds of ballots showing that voters gave him and his far-right allies what looks like a stable majority in the country’s parliament.
Votes were still being counted and results were not final. But if preliminary indications were correct, Israel is potentially heading to one of its most right-wing governments, bolstered by a strong showing from the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, whose members use inflammatory anti-Arab and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
The initial results pointed to a continued rightward shift in the Israeli electorate, further dimming hopes for peace with the Palestinians and setting the stage for possible conflict with the Biden administration and Israel’s supporters in the United States.
The early results also showed that Mr Netanyahu had overcome his detractors, who claimed he was not fit to rule while on trial for corruption and have refused to sit with him in government.
Mr Netanyahu’s partners have promised to help him evade a conviction.
“We are on the verge of a very big victory,” Mr Netanyahu, 73, told supporters at a gathering in Jerusalem early on Wednesday.
“I will establish a nationalist government that will see to all Israeli citizens without any exceptions.”
Elections officials worked through the night tallying votes and by early Wednesday, more than 70% of the ballots had been counted.
The vote, like past elections, was tight but initial indications showed Mr Netanyahu was headed back to premiership with a firm majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament.
With Mr Netanyahu and his allies projected to win well over the majority needed to form a government, the country’s protracted political crisis may be headed toward a conclusion, but the country remains as divided as ever.
Tuesday’s election was Israel’s fifth in less than four years, with all of them focused largely on Mr Netanyahu’s fitness to govern.
On trial for corruption charges, Mr Netanyahu, who denied wrongdoing, is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.
Even if Mr Netanyahu and his allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed.
Mr Netanyahu was Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, governing for 12 consecutive years – and 15 years altogether – before he was ousted last year by a diverse coalition led by the centrist Yair Lapid, the current caretaker prime minister.
But the coalition that Mr Lapid cobbled together, which included the first Arab party ever to join a government, was decimated by infighting and collapsed after just one year in power.
Those parties were poised to capture about 50 seats, according to initial results.
Mr Lapid, addressing supporters early on Wednesday, insisted that the race was not decided.
“Until the last envelope is counted, nothing is over and nothing is final,” he said.
The night’s strongest showing was by far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionism, which emerged as the third-largest party.
At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration.
Mr Ben-Gvir is a disciple of a racist rabbi, Meir Kahane, who was banned from parliament and whose Kach party was branded a terrorist group by the United States before he was assassinated in New York in 1990.
Mr Kahane’s agenda called for banning intermarriage between Arabs and Jews, stripping Arabs of Israeli citizenship and expelling large numbers of Palestinians.
