Israel (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Election Day
Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 6:24 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2045 GMT: Israel. Exit polls, announced at the close of balloting 45 minutes ago, indicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing alliance has a narrow lead in the Knesset but has lost ground to centre-left parties.
Netanyahu now faces the task of forging a new coalition Government with only 31 seats for the alliance between his Likud Party and the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu. Sixty-one members are needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
He is expected to seek an alliance with a new nationalist party, Habayit Hayehudi, led by the emerging politician Naftali Bennett. It is expected to win 12 seats, the same number as the religious Shas Party.
The surprise of the election may be the centre-left Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, which has finished second to the Likud-Beitenu coalition and just ahead of Labour.
Yesh Atid, led by journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid, is projected at 18 or 19 seats and Labour with 17.