Benjamin Netanyahu has up to 42 days to build a coalition after winning a decisive majority in Israel’s fifth election in four years with the help of ultra-Orthodox parties and a new alliance with the far right.
After a year in opposition and years of political chaos triggered by his ongoing corruption trial, the 73-year-old politician engineered a comeback in the Nov 1 vote.
His majority means that the electoral deadlock is, in all probability, over for now, and Netanyahu – already the country’s longest-serving prime minister – is set to stay in the job for at least the next four years.
Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party won 32 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, making it the largest party. His bloc managed to win 64 seats overall, largely thanks to a doubling in support for the extremist Religious Zionists.
