Polls: Netanyahu re-elected, Lapid surprises with 19 mandates

Exit polls marking the conclusion of the 2013 national elections are predicting re-election for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the big surprise was Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party, which, according to the polls, won 18-19 mandates.

Israel's news networks projected the joint Likud-Yisrael Beteinu ticket to have won 31 Knesset seats – a sharp drop from the 42 mandates that two parties currently hold.

The winner of the day was the centrist Yesh Atid, whose projected number of mandates was almost double what the final pre-election polls predicted. 

צילום: הילה ספאק וניצן דרור

Exit polls project inital results (Video: Hila Spak and Nitza Dror)

Shelly Yachimovich, who in recent weeks voiced hopes of becoming Israel's next prime minister, failed to have garnered enough mandates to make Labor the country's second largest party. It got 17 Knesset seats, the polls indicated.

Naftali Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi was said to have won 12 Knesset seats.

The results were expected to make it tough for Netanyahu to form a coalition, considering that the race between the Right and Left blocs was tighter than initially expected. The polls showed the the Right bloc won a combined 61 Knesset seats, while the Center-Left bloc won 59 mandates.  

Yesh Atid supporters celebrat (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Shas was said to have won 11-13 seats, followed by Hatnua with six or seven. Kadima, the news network said, has failed to pass the minimum threshold and was out of the next Knesset.

The leftist Meretz party appeared to have doubled its power by winning seven mandates, according to channels 1 and 2. Channel 10 saw the party receiving only six Knesset seats. This is the biggest win for the party, which is headed by Zahava Gal-On, since 1999.   

Hatnua fans awaiting moment of truth (Photo: Eran Yofi cohen)

Final results were not expected to be announced until the early hours of Wednesday. 

The preliminary results were as follows:

Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu: 31

Yesh Atid: 18-19

Labor: 17

Habayit Hayehudi: 12

Shas: 11-13

Hatnua: 6-7

Meretz: 6-7

United Torah Judaism: 6

Hadash: 3-5

United Arab List-Taal: 3-4

Balad: 2

Otzma Leyisrael: 0-2

Kadima: 0

PM: Voters want me to stay

Lapid responded to the initial findings with a single phrase posted on his Facebook page: "Thank you." The number two on Yesh Atid's ticket, Rabbi Shay Piron, told Ynet's live broadcast that Tuesday's elections were a "historic event," noting that the party was initially slated to get only five or six mandates.

Netanyahu attempted to downplay the fact his ruling party had significantly weakened. The prime minister thanked his constituents in a Facebook post, emphasizing his re-election.

Likud supporters kept spirits up (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

"According to the polls, the citizens of Israel asserted that they want me to keep serving as prime minister and to form the broadest coalition possible," he said. "These results pose an opportunity to make many changes that would benefit the Israeli public… Many challenges are ahead."

Netanyahu pledged to launch efforts to form a government as soon as Tuesday night.

Meretz's future MKs (Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv)

As the results emerged, Meretz's Gal-On urged the centrist parties not to join the prime minister's coalition.

"We have a mission: To start talking about peace again," she said.

Officials with Habayit Hayehudi expressed contentment with the rightist party's gains, which mirrored predictions made ahead of the elections.

"We promised that something new was starting, and today something new was started by the people of Israel," Bennett, the party's chairman, told dozens of supporters waiting outside his Raanana home. "We, Habayit Hayehudi, have returned to the center of the political stage."

Celebrations at Habayit Hayehudi's HQ (Photo: Benny Deutsch)

Members of Shas were equally pleased that they managed to preserve, and most likely to boost, the ultra-Orthodox party's power.

"The people have decided to empower Shas," Avraham Kreuzer, a manager of the party's campaign, told Ynet.

Sources close to Shas' spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said that he "heard the results and rejoiced before resuming his (Torah) studies."

Shas members reveled in success (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Hatnua Chairwoman Tzipi Livni thanked activists and told them that she "is back for good."

"I will stay in order to complete the mission we have taken upon ourselves – to make Israel a country that is part of the free world and isn't closed off and isolated, a country that leads the process towards peace," she said, noting that her party deserved more Knesset seats.

The number two on the party's list, Amir Peretz, said the Center-Right bloc can pose an alternative to Netanyahu.

High voter turnout

The final voter turnout on Election Day stood at 66.6%, the highest since 1999.

Kadima HQ on Tuesday night (Photo: George Ginsberg)

Polling stations across Israel opened at 7 am on Tuesday, beckoning a total of 5,656,705 eligible voters to cast ballots in 10,132 ballot boxes across the country. The stations closed at 10 pm, allowing the count to begin. 

While the winner appeared to be pretty much decided, international media outlets on Tuesday pondered the implications of another Netanyahu administration for the diplomatic process. 

A Washington Post editorial claimed Netanyahu is one of only two Likud members who support the establishment of a Palestinian state, out of the top 30 candidates on the Likud list.

The question, it said, was whether Netanyahu would include Center-Left parties in the coalition, or risk isolation both within his party and internationally.