Israelis went to the polls for the third time in less than a year this week but preliminary results indicate that a fourth election is a possibility with no obvious coalitions capable of forming a majority for the 120 seat Knesset. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party will take a majority 36 seats, with his former chief of staff Benny Gantz’ Blue & White party in second place with 33.

But neither Mr Netanyahu nor Mr Gantz appear to be able to form a 61-seat strong coalition, as was the case in September last year (MEES, 27 September 2019). The PM’s right-wing bloc took 58 seats, while any coalition Mr Gantz could form falls short of this number. President Reuven Rivlin has said he will wait until next week once all votes have been counted, before mandating the winner of the election with forming a government. (CONTINUED - 204 WORDS)