by Keren Setton, Chen Wenxian
JERUSALEM, March 3 (Xinhua) -- With the majority of the votes counted in Israel's parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has won the largest number of seats but is still short of securing a majority in parliament.
Official results are expected to be released in the coming days. If they match the exit polls, Netanyahu will be one or two seats away from forming a majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament.
Netanyahu's main rival, Benny Gantz, leader of Blue and White party, failed to secure a majority either, as his party lost about four seats to Likud.
A political newcomer who managed to garner significant support, it seems this time that Gantz will have difficulty in bouncing back from such a blow.
"It's clear that Gantz and his center-left bloc has lost the election, but it is unclear whether Netanyahu really wins a victory," said Gideon Rahat, a professor from the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
"We are back to April 2019 (the first elections) with more or less the same results in terms of the party blocs," Rahat explained.
But Netanyahu managed to strengthen Likud by increasing the number of the party's seats to at least 36 this time.
Exit polls showed the right-wing bloc led by the Likud has secured 59 seats, two short of the majority of the parliament.
"It's very clear to see the Israelis are tilted to the right and it's most likely that we're going to have a right-wing government," Ran Bar-Yoshafat, vice director of the Kohelet Policy Forum, told Xinhua.
Voter turnout this time was one of the highest in Israeli elections in recent decades, which stood at 71 percent, as the overwhelming majority of the public does not want to see the fourth election in the coming months.
"So some people from the left might join the right-wing bloc, or we are going to find some new coalitions that we didn't think of beforehand," Bar-Yoshafat said.
In two weeks' time, Netanyahu will make his first court appearance as a defendant indicted for fraud, breach of trust and bribery.
His opponents believe that if he leads a new government, he will use his position to circumvent the judicial system.
Netanyahu, who has denied any wrongdoing, has also denied that he will try to change legislation in his favor.
For Gantz who has vowed not to rely on the Arab votes to secure a majority, his center-left bloc has only about 40 seats without the about 15-seat Joint List of the main Arab-majority parties in Israel.
There is always the option of a unity government between the Likud and Blue and White, although it would mean both Gantz and Netanyahu have to break strict election commitments.
Netanyahu campaigned for a right-wing government leaning on Orthodox Jewish parties that would implement a hardline agenda and promote a complete annexation of the West Bank.
The Blue and White promised their voters that it would lead a secular government without a partner under criminal charges.
It is hard to see where the two opponents will meet in the middle.
However, when it comes to pressing matters on the agenda, such as the adoption of U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for Israelis and Palestinians, there might not be a difference between different coalitions.
"Palestinians ... believe Netanyahu and Gantz are two sides of the same coin," said Ameen Abu Warda, a political analyst based in the West Bank city of Nablus.
(Xinhua reporters Shang Hao in Jerusalem, Xiong Sihao and Emad Drimly in Gaza also contributed to the story.)
