TEL AVIV (Sputnik) — With 99.5 percent of the votes tallied, the right-wing Likud party, led by Netanyahu, is projected to win 30 seats. The closest rival, the left-wing Zionist Union, is projected to come in second at 24 seats, Channel 2 reported.
The prime minister said he had already spoken with heads of parties he plans to invite into the coalition, including Kulanu's Moshe Kahlon, Bayit Yehudi chief Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, Shas leader Aryeh Deri, and United Torah Judaism representatives Yaakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni.
More than 4 million, or 71.8 percent, of eligible voters cast ballots in the Israeli legislative elections by 10 p.m. local time (20:00 GMT), the Central Elections Committee reported Tuesday. The national elections this year broke records with the highest voter turnout in this century.
The parties that follow are Joint Arab List with 14 seats, Yesh Atid, which comes at forth with 11 seats, Kulanu with 10, Bayit Yehudi with eight seats, Shas with seven seats and United Torah Judaism with six seats, followed by Yisrael Beytenu, which ends up winning six seats.
Meretz closes the list of parties that passed the threshold, winning four seats in the next Knesset.
