Prime Minister Netanyahu lost majority in Israeli parliament | Abroad

All votes have been counted and the seat numbers are known, but the official result will not be announced until Friday. Netanyahu leads the largest party, the right-wing Likud, with 30 seats, but even with the allies it is becoming very difficult to gain a majority.

A party of Palestinians of Israeli nationality could theoretically help fix the majority, but that’s unthinkable, according to Israeli media, because Netanyahu’s far-right religious allies don’t like Arab Israelis to say the least.

Tuesday’s ballot was the fourth in two years as a result of fragmented politics and the resulting ramshackle government coalitions that ended in an early ballot. But Netanyahu has managed to become prime minister of a coalition six times in the past quarter century.

If the formation of a coalition government fails, the country may have to vote again this fall. A stable coalition can lead the country to the next elections for four years.

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