Netanyahu wins the election

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu‘s Conservative Bloc is on track for a clear election victory after 85 percent of the votes have been counted.

His right-wing religious alliance managed to collect a majority of 65 seats out of 120.

Netanyahu’s Likud is the strongest party with 31 MPs. In second place is the Future Party of former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, with 24 seats won in the Parliament.

For the first time in Israeli history, the far-right coalition is in third place. The religious Zionism of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir will probably play a decisive role for Netanyahu.

The left-wing Meretz party and Arab Ballada will probably not be able to pass the 3.25 percent threshold.

Preliminary results are expected to be known on Thursday, and turnout was relatively high at 71.3 percent of the 6.8 million registered voters.

This will be the second return to power for Netanyahu, 73, who is under investigation for corruption.

He was prime minister several times for more than 15 years.