#Israel: Second time voting underway, Will Netanyahu be able to form the government?

Jerusalem, September 17: In a rat race of forming the government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara cast their votes today morning. Israeli citizens are casting their ballots for the second time this year, in an electoral race that is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is the first time in Israel's history that two elections have been held in the same year.

 

Voting opened at 7am local time (04:00 GMT) at 11,163 polling stations, with 31 parties competing for the 120 seats. Counting will start shortly after the polls close at 10pm local time (19:00 GMT) with exit polls and results expected to come in overnight. About 68 percent of the 5.88 million eligible voters in Israel and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem are expected to take part in the poll to choose the party that will lead the country's 22nd Knesset or parliament. Israel's President Reuven Rivlin will then decide who will be given the mandate to form a new government based on the recommendations of the Knesset members. 

To win a fifth term, Netanyahu needs the continued support of right-wing factions he has previously relied on to clear the 61-seat threshold for a majority. In April elections, Netanyahu's Likud party won 36 seats, just one more than Gantz's Blue and White party. Netanyahu declared victory and it appeared that he would be able to secure a majority with the backing of smaller right-wing and religious parties. But after several chaotic weeks the attempted coalition-building collapsed into recriminations.

About 4.8 million Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip do not have voting rights. But Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 percent of the electorate at about 950,000 voters, could be game-changers if they vote in large numbers, analysts said.