Israeli PM Netanyahu Scrambles To Keep His Job After Election Produces Stunning Deadlock
JERUSALEM - A weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrambled Wednesday to keep his job by extending his hand to a new centrist party that advocates a more earnest push on peacemaking with the Palestinians and whose surprisingly strong showing broadsided him with a stunning election deadlock.
The results defied forecasts that Israel's next government would veer sharply to the right at a time when the country faces mounting international isolation, growing economic problems and regional turbulence. While that opens the door to unexpected movement on peace efforts, a coalition joining parties with dramatically divergent views on peacemaking, the economy and the military draft could just as easily be headed for gridlock — and perhaps a short life.
With nearly all votes counted, Netanyahu's hawkish bloc and rival centrists and leftists each commanded 60 of parliament's 120 seats. Netanyahu, who called early elections three months ago expecting easy victory, is likely to be tapped to form the next government because his Likud-Yisrael Beitenu alliance is the largest single bloc in parliament, while his rivals include 12 seats from Arab parties that are traditionally excluded from coalition building.
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