
More than 60,000 Israelis living abroad were estimated to have returned to cast their ballots in the country’s first election since the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Netanyahu, a seasoned politician, had kept his cards close to his chest, making it difficult to predict his next move to save his political career.
One of the notable results from the exit polls was that Likud remained the largest party, even as Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition appeared to have lost seats, partly because of weaker results for smaller right-wing parties.
Israeli society had also shifted significantly to the right over the years, with polls showing that younger voters predominantly identified with the right.
It remained to be seen how those votes were distributed and which parties benefited when the final results emerge, reports AL Jazeera.