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Two polls showed Blue and White with a slight lead over Likud, winning 33 seats to Likud’s 31 and 34 seats to Likud’s 33, respectively.

À third showed the centrist party tying with Likud at 32 seats each.

In a political system of proportional representation where the size of blocs is crucial, the outcome of the election remained unclear, with neither the centre-left or the right-wing and religious bloc appearing to have won a significant majority.

Israel’s next prime minister will be the candidate most likely to be able to form a coalition with enough parties for a government of at least 61 members.

The right-wing bloc including Likud, the far-right Yamina and the ultra-Orthodox parties received between 54 and 57 mandates.

Two of the polls showed the right-wing and religious bloc as being two seats larger than the centre-left bloc. A third poll showed the centre-left bloc as being four seats larger.

The centre-left bloc including Blue and White, Labour-Gesher, the Democratic Union and the Joint List of Arab parties received between 54 and 58 mandates.

The Joint List of Arab parties looked set to be the third largest party in parliament with between 11 and 13 seats. They have never been part of a government before, but have in the past chosen to support a minority government from the outside.

The Yisrael Beitenu party, which received between eight and 10 mandates, was not included in either bloc. It was unclear whom party leader Avigdor Liberman, perceived as the kingmaker, will recommend to President Reuven Rivlin as premier.

Speaking after the exit polls Liberman said: “We have only one option – a wide, right-wing liberal national unity government made up of Yisrael Beitenu, Likud and Blue and White.”

Blue and White has said it would sit with Likud only if it is not headed by Netanyahu, who faces indictment, subject to a hearing, over corruption charges.

Meanwhile Netanyahu has said he will form a right-wing and religious coalition.

This was the second election held in Israel in just over five months, after Netanyahu failed to form a coalition following his victory in the April election.

Liberman refused to join his government over disagreements with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

After consultations with the leaders of every party that passed the threshold, Rivlin will decide who to task with forming the coalition.

The president must assign the coalition building task to a party representative within seven days of receiving the official results, and that person then has 28 days to complete the task.

The president may grant a two-week extension.

If after that no coalition deal is reached, the president will give the responsibility to another member of parliament.

A new government is expected to be formed by the end of October.

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Partial results with 95 percent of votes counted showed Netanyahu’s Likud party tied with Gantz’s centrist Blue and White Party with 35 parliamentary seats each, the Knesset website and Israeli Channel 12 said.

Though neither party captured a ruling majority in the 120-member Knesset, the partial results put Netanyahu in a strong position to form a coalition government with right-wing factions, key to an ultimate victory.

“It is a night of colossal victory,” the 69-year-old Netanyahu told cheering supporters in a late-night speech at Likud headquarters, while cautioning that a “long night and possibly day” lay ahead awaiting official results.

Fireworks flared behind him as his wife Sara applauded and kissed him. “He’s a magician,” the crowd chanted.

If he wins, Netanyahu, 69, will be on track to be the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s 71-year history. Netanyahu said he had already begun talks with prospective coalition allies.

Netanyahu, in power consecutively since 2009, has been fighting for his political survival. The closely contested race was widely seen in Israel as a referendum on his character and record in the face of corruption allegations.

He faces possible indictment in three graft cases, and has denied wrongdoing in all three. According to the partial results, Likud won 5 more seats than in the previous election in 2015.

Rival Gantz, 59, earlier also claimed victory, citing preliminary exit polls that showed his party had won more seats than Likud.

“We are the victors,” said Gantz, a former military chief fighting his first election. “We want to thank Benjamin Netanyahu for his service to the nation.”

Political analysts cautioned it was too early to be certain of the outcome, with many hours to go before a final tally is in.

Ofer Zalzberg, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Likud and Blue and White would have to learn the fate of smaller parties to know whether they had garnered enough support for a coalition.

“Netanyahu is more likely to establish another right-wing government, but we will have to wait and see,” he said.

During the campaign, the rival parties accused each other of corruption, fostering bigotry and being soft on security.

Netanyahu highlighted his close relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who delighted Israelis and angered Palestinians by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the American Embassy to the holy city last May.

Two weeks before the election, Trump signed a proclamation, with Netanyahu at his side at the White House, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

In a rare turn during the race towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu further alarmed Palestinians by promising to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if re-elected. Palestinians seek a state there and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

During the campaign, Gantz said a government under his stewardship would pursue peace, but stopped short of committing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Commenting on the election, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation”.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

A close result in the election would put smaller parties in a powerful position, turning marginal political figures into kingmakers.

Once the votes are tallied, President Reuven Rivlin will ask parties that have won parliamentary seats who they support for prime minister. He will then pick a party leader to try to form a coalition, giving the candidate 28 days to do so, with a two-week extension if needed.

One factor may be the turnout of voters from Israel’s 21 percent Arab minority. Many were angered by Israel’s nation-state law, passed in 2018, which declared that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country. Netanyahu supported the legislation.

Netanyahu’s party sent monitors equipped with body cameras to a number of polling stations with Arab constituents on election day. Arab politicians condemned the move as voter intimidation.

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