Netanyahu will continue to lead Israel

Over the past few week the news has been full of stories of Benjamin Netanyahu's and the Likud party's "likely defeat." Polls showed the Left-leaning, U.S. Democrat supported Zionist Party pulling ahead, but somehow last night the election results did not pan out as expected.

Israel's Prime Minister is elected in the same fashion as the Speaker of the House in the United States, thus what matters is the number of seats a party controls in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament). As of this morning the results were:

1. Likud — 30 seats
2. Zionist Union — 24 seats
3. Joint Arab List — 14
4. Yesh Atid — 11
5. Kulanu — 10
6. Bayit Yehudi — 8
7. Shas — 7
8. United Torah Judaism — 6
9. Yisrael Beytenu — 6
10. Meretz — 4
11. Yachad — 0 (did not get enough votes to pass the minimum threshold)

Last year's Knesset was:
1. Likud 31
2. Yesh Atid 19
3. Labor Party 15
4. The Jewish Home 12
5. Shas 11
6. United Torah Judaism 7
7. Hatnuah 6
8. Meretz 6
9. United Arab List 4
10. Hadash 4
11. Balad 3
12. Kadima 2

Although Likud lost 1 seat, this is still an amazing victory for the Likud Party and Netanyahu. Early this week the Prime Minister made this election about whether Israel would give up the West Bank. This election shows that the majority of Israelis do not wish to see another hostile state to their east.
 

---