(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party was neck-and-neck with the centre-left Zionist Union in yesterday's general election, exit polls said.
Analysts said the polls indicated Netanyahu had managed close the gap with his centre-left rival, and would be much better placed to pull together a majority of 61-seats.
Figures published by public Channel 1 and private Channel 10 television both gave Likud and the Zionist Union 27 seats each in the 120-member Knesset, or parliament. A third poll by private Channel 2 gave Likud a one-seat lead on the Zionist Union, with the ruling party taking 28 seats.
Netanyahu's Likud which was seen trailing the Zionist Union of Isaac Herzog by up to four seats in the final polls published last week, outperformed all expectations by staying in step with its centre-left rival. And in the coalition horse trading that will begin in earnest today, Netanyahu retains much more room for manouevre than Herzog given the backing he has from an array of smaller rightwing and religious parties.
"Netanyahu has managed to catch up in the final lap," said Claude Klein, a specialist in constitutional law at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.
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