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Left-wing activists staged a protest in Israel demanding the formation of a government comprising Arab and Jewish parties, with hundreds gathering in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night.
By Thursday, more than 90% of the votes had been counted, but no bloc had secured the majority needed to form a government. Preliminary results indicated that Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc was set to win 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc 48 and the Arab bloc 19.
The political deadlock had become apparent on Wednesday, even after more than half of the votes had been counted. Against this backdrop, protesters gathered in Tel Aviv at night, calling for Arab-Jewish cooperation.
According to Haaretz, an agreement between the Jewish-led Eisenkot bloc and the Arab-led Joint List and Ra’am could bring their combined seat tally to 67, exceeding the 61 seats required to form a government.
Yair Golan, a left-wing leader in the Eisenkot bloc, called for an agreement with Arab parties on Wednesday. However, several other leaders in the bloc had already ruled out the possibility of such an arrangement.
During Wednesday night’s protest, left-wing activists carried placards calling for a joint government. Photographs released by AFP showed police dispersing the protesters.
Vote fraud allegations dismissed
Arab parties’ growing political significance stems from the possibility of winning a record number of seats, more than at any previous election. On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s Likud party alleged that fraud had contributed to the parties’ success.
However, police dismissed the allegations on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported. A police official told several Hebrew-language media outlets that there was no evidence to support the claims. The official added that irregularities had been far fewer than in previous elections.
Regarding Likud’s allegations, the official said there was no evidence from investigations or intelligence to substantiate them.
Likud had accused Arab parties of “stealing votes”. An official of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) also dismissed the allegation on Wednesday. Source: Israeli media.
