Israeli Exit Polls Show Netanyahu Bloc Short of Majority

Exit polls from three major Israeli television networks showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc trailing its opponents in the parliamentary election, with neither side projected to win the 61 seats needed for a majority. A separate updated projection from Channel 14 put Netanyahu’s bloc at 61 seats, leaving the election-night picture contested. Official results were still pending. The three networks projected about 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 52 or 53 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, and 17 or 18 for Arab parties. The figures are preliminary exit-poll estimates, not ballot counts, and may change as votes are counted. Channel 14’s updated exit poll instead projected 61 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc. It attributed the shift to Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party falling below the 3.25% electoral threshold, which would leave it without seats. That projection, too, was based on an exit poll rather than official results. Netanyahu’s Likud party was projected to be the largest single party, despite the broader bloc’s weaker showing in the three network polls. A party’s individual seat total does not determine who can form a...