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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Shas leader and interior minister Aryeh Deri on Tuesday to discuss possible options available to them to form a coalition.
According to estimations, Netanyahu's right-wing bloc has secured 59 out of the 120 Knesset seats, but falls short of the 61 seats needed to form a government. His Likud party emerged from the elections with 36 Knesset seats according to an incomplete count, and Blue and White with just 32 seats.
Blue & White announced it would convene Tuesday evening after its leader Benny Gantz came under pressure from members to consider joining a unity government led by Netanyahu after refusing to do so when a rotation for the premiership was on the table after the September 2019 ballot.
"We will consider our way forward after the final results of the elections are known," Gantz told reporters.
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Blue and White leader Benny Gantz the morning after his party's election defeat
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
The head of Yamina, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, told his party members that though election results were positive for the right-wing, there was still a need to ensure that the next government carried out a right-wing agenda.
"This will be determined by the makeup of the coalition," Bennett said. "If a party from the left joins, there will be no annexation of the West Bank."
Bennett said that his party had conducted itself honorably during a difficult campaign and had kept the unity of the right-wing intact.
Education Minister Rafi Peretz, also of Yamina, said there must be a strong and stable government installed to ensure the welfare of the Land of Israel and its Jewish identity.
Yamini co-leader Ayelet Shaked also weighed in, saying it is clear that a majority of voters had chosen a right-wing agenda.
Meanwhile, efforts are rumored to be underway by Netanyahu confidants to find members of Knesset from parties outside of the right-wing bloc who would be willing to switch alliances and throw their support in with the Likud-led bloc.
Results from regular polling stations around the country are expected late Tuesday but some 340,000 votes cast by members of the military, the diplomatic corps, hospitals, and those voters who have been exposed to the coronavirus – enough to change some of the political map, will only be announced on Thursday.
The Central Election Committee said 97% of polling stations have been counted and votes are being calibrated to determine the number of Knesset seats each party had secured.