JERUSALEM (AP) – Israelis woke up Wednesday morning to find that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party came in first in parliamentary elections. It was a stunning turnaround after a tight race that had put his lengthy rule in jeopardy. Here is how things could play out now:
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HOW DOES A GOVERNMENT COME TOGETHER IN ISRAEL?
Voters in Israel choose party lists, not individual candidates, and seats in the 120-member parliament are allocated based on the number of votes each list receives. No single party has ever won an outright majority of 61 seats, requiring a major party – usually but not always the largest – to lead a coalition.
The parties have a wide range of platforms, including social or security issues or catering to needs of specific sectors in Israeli society like ultra-Orthodox Jews or Israeli Arabs. But overall, they tend to fall into one of two blocs – the nationalist and security-focused right wing or the dovish center left, which promotes social welfare programs and is more conciliatory toward the Palestinians.