After tallying absentee ballots from IDF soliders and foreign diplomats, Israel’s Central Elections Committee confirmed that the Likud Party, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emerged as the party with the most parliamentary mandates—30 Members of Knesset (MKs) in the 120-seat parliament.
There are only minor changes from estimates made in the hours following the elections: The Zionist Union and Kulanu gained a seat each, while Yisrael Beiteinu and United Torah Judaism lost a seat. The complete tally is as follows:
Likud: 30
Zionist Union: 24
Joint List: 13
Yesh Atid: 11
Kulanu: 10
Jewish Home: 8
Shas: 7
Yisrael Beiteinu: 6
United Torah Judaism: 6
Meretz: 5
Fully one-third of the incoming Knesset will be first-time lawmakers, and will feature a record number of women, with 28, and an increase in Arab MKs from 12 to 17.
The left-right balance in the new Knesset is largely unchanged from that of the old one. On the right, Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Jewish Home had 43 seats in 2013 and 44 seats today. The centrist bloc is unchanged: Yesh Atid and the now-defunct Kadima party had 21 seats last time, the same number that Yesh Atid and the new Kulanu party now have. The left-wing parties (27 to 29) and the Arab delegation (11 to 13) slightly grew, while the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism actually have five fewer seats, largely because of vote-siphoning from the far-right party Yachad, which failed to pass the election threshold.
Netanyahu will in all likelihood by picked by President Reuven Rivlin to have the first crack at forming a governing coalition that can attain a 61-seat majority. This means that parties likely to play a part in his coalition, as well as leaders within Likud, have begun demanding the implementation of their political agendas and control of government ministries. As The Jerusalem Post reported:
The only portfolios that are already definite are Finance for Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon keeping his post. Yuli Edelstein is expected to remain Knesset speaker, though he has not yet discussed it with Netanyahu.
Speculation began Wednesday about other portfolios. Bayit Yehudi [Jewish Home] leader Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman both want a senior portfolio. However, the Foreign Ministry could also go to a top Likud MK, such as Gilad Erdan, who is second on the party’s list.
Alternatively Erdan could receive the Justice portfolio. The Likud’s Yuval Steinitz has been discussed for the Education portfolio.
Shas leader Arye Deri wants to return to his former job of interior minister, and United Torah Judaism leader Ya’acov Litzman wants to return to his former post of deputy health minister without a minister over him.
Yisrael Beytenu is expected to seek the Welfare and Social Services portfolio for MK Orly Levy-Abecassis, and Bayit Yehudi looks to push for MK Ayelet Shaked to become public security minister.
A Likud statement said that Netanyahu intended to form a coalition by Israeli Independence Day, which will be celebrated this year on April 22. “Reality will not wait for us,” the statement said. “Reality does not take time out. The people of Israel expect us to quickly build a leadership team that will work for them on security and socioeconomic issues as we promised.”
A graphic depicting all 120 members of the Knesset can be found below. The graphic was created by The Israel Project, which publishes The Tower.
[Photo: Miriam Alster / Flash90]