Although his enemies are trying to take him down permanently by means of a corruption prosecution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition has won yesterday’s elections in Israel. The most successful prime minister in the nation’s history was extremely happy with the results, telling his followers that he’ll quickly proceed to form a new government.
With 64% of votes counted, it’s already clear that the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu’s Likud has once again defeated the opposition. The Central Election Committee (CEC) predicts that Likud will end up with 36 seats. Together with his right-wing allies, Netanyahu will end up with 59 seats. Blue and White, Likud’s main competitor, has to settle for a mere 32 seats. That still makes it the country’s second party, but it’s significantly less than what the party’s leaders were aiming for. In fact, the gap between Likud and Blue & White has increased, which was the latter’s nightmare scenario.
The leftwing bloc will end up with 54 seats. Yisrael Beytenu takes the remaining 7 seats.
It goes without saying that Netanyahu was elated last night. He called it “the biggest win of my life.” “The victory is even sweeter,” he went on to say, “because it was against all odds and we were eulogized. We turned the lemons into lemonade.”
After that, Netanyahu repeated his winning campaign platform: eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat, peace with moderate Arab countries, further economic reforms, annexing settlements in the West Bank, and a proposed defense pact with the United States.
A great victory indeed. Since the armed forces are the last ones to vote, it’s likely that Netanyahu’s bloc will actually end up with 60 seats. That would still put him one below the needed 61, but he shouldn’t have much trouble getting that one extra seat (or even more). According to Likud’s spokesman, Netanyahu and his allies have already spoken to “four to six” possible “defectors from outside the right-wing bloc.”
Netanyahu will undoubtedly be able to form a new government with a strong, healthy majority.
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