WORLD
Netanyahu declares victory, Gantz expresses disappointment
Baku, March 3, AZERTAC
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “a night of huge victory” on Monday night after the exit polls showed that his Likud party won 37 seats, several more seats than his main rival Benny Gantz and the Blue and White party.
“This is the greatest victory of my life, against all odds,” he told a raucous crowd of his supporters.
“Israel’s citizens gave us their trust because they know that we have brought the best decade in Israeli history. We will apply sovereignty over the homeland of Judea and Samaria,” he stated.
“Three hours ago we celebrated our 29th anniversary. Thanks for the anniversary gift,” he added, with his wife Sara at his side.
Gantz, whose party came in second with 32-33 seats, thanked his supports on Twitter and said that “this is not the result we would have liked to see.”
The Arab-majority Joint List party celebrated their new seats in the Knesset.
The main battle is between the right-wing bloc, led by Netanyahu and his Likud party, which has 60 seats, and between the center-left bloc, led by Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party, which has only 40.
Netanyahu has obtained a significant enough majority to form a government. Netanyahu does not have the required 61 seats, although he is much closer to this number than Blue and White.
Gantz cannot rely on the Arab votes and is far from a coalition.
The left, including the historical Labor party and the extreme-left Meretz, took a beating at the ballots.
Netanyahu and the right may still get the 61 votes, and will probably seek one or more members of the opposition to join their coalition.