Netanyahu's Likud party leading in Israeli elections after 62 pct of ballots processed

TEL AVIV: The Israeli Central Elections Committee said on Wednesday, after processing 62 per cent of the ballots, that former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party leads the parliamentary elections, reported Sputnik.

The vote count on Wednesday morning showed that Likud became the largest seat-holder in the Knesset with 33 seats, while incumbent Prime Minister Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party came in second with 25 seats. The Religious Zionism party ranked third with 14.

The Ultra-Orthodox religious political party Shas and Defence Minister Beni Gantz's National Unity Party received 12 seats each; United Torah Judaism religious conservative party and Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu (Israel Our Home) party secured six mandates each.

The Hadash-Ta'al Arab party union and the Israeli Labour Party got four seats each. Meanwhile, the United Arab List (Ra'am) party and left-wing Meretz did not reach the electoral threshold, along with the Arab political party Balad.

In this scenario, Netanyahu could form a right-wing religious coalition with his traditional partners, backed by a parliamentary majority of 69 mandates.

The Central Elections Committee plans to complete the processing of ballots by Thursday.

On Tuesday, Israel held its fifth snap elections in the past three and a half years due to failure to form a stable political coalition.

-- BERNAMA