Netanyahu claims victory in Israeli election
Posted March 18, 2015 5:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory following exit polls showing him tied with opposition center-left Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog in Tuesday’s parliamentary elections.
“Against all odds: a great victory for Likud,” Netanyahu said in a speech at party election headquarters in Tel Aviv.
The Zionist Union and the Likud are predicted to win 27 seats respectively in the 120-member parliament, according to the exit polls conducted by Israel’s Channel 1 and Channel 10 news agencies.
Another exit poll, conducted by Channel 2, gave the Likud a one seat lead over the center-left Zionist Union, with the former winning 28 seats.
As exit poll returns rolled in, supporters of Netanyahu’s Right Wing Likud Party cheered support for him, declaring him victor in the elections at the party’s headquarters in the city of Tel Aviv.
“That’s incredible! Everybody buried him. I’m sorry but this is fantastic, fantastic,” said a Likud supporter.
“The people in the streets say what they want. They want Bibi inside,” said another Likud supporter, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Zionist Union and other center-left parties said the right-wing celebrations are premature and urged the Israeli public to wait for real-time results to arrive early on Wednesday.
If Netanyahu wins, he’ll become Israel’s longest serving leader.
