Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party
has won a surprise victory in Israel's election.
Exit polls had forecast a dead heat but with almost all
votes counted, results give Likud a clear lead over its main rival, the
centre-left Zionist Union.
The outcome gives Mr Netanyahu a strong chance of forming
a right-wing coalition government.
It puts the incumbent on course to clinch a fourth term
and become Israel's longest-serving prime minster.
The latest tally gives Likud 30 seats in the 120-seat
parliament, the Knesset, with Zionist Union on 24 seats.
In a speech to jubilant supporters in Tel Aviv after
Tuesday's polls closed, Mr Netanyahu described the vote as a "great
victory" for Likud, which had trailed the Zionist Union in opinion polls
in the run-up to the election.
Mr Netanyahu "plans to immediately begin forming a
government in order to complete the task within two to three weeks," a
statement from Likud said.
It said he had already spoken to parties he saw as possible
coalition partners, including right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties and
centrist Kulanu, which won 10 seats.
Zionist Union leader Yitzhak Herzog called Mr Netanyahu
early on Wednesday to congratulate him on the result and wished him "good
luck".
"Nothing has changed, we will keep fighting for a
just society," he was quoted as saying by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
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