Gantz, Netanyahu Are Neck To Neck

IsraelHayom is reporting:

The polls are officially closed in the 2019 do-over election, and the initial results – based on anonymous exit polls – are in.

When the results of the exit polls conducted by Channels 11, 12, and 13 were integrated, the results were as follows:

Blue and White: 33.6
Likud: 32
Joint Arab List: 12
Yisrael Beytenu: 8.6
Shas: 8.6
Yamina: 8
United Torah Judaism: 8
Democratic Union: 5.3
Labor-Gesher: 5.3

None of the polls showed the far-right Otzma Yehudit passing the minimum electoral threshold.

Channel 12’s exit poll predicted the following number of seats for the 22nd Knesset:

Blue and White: 34
Likud: 33
Yisrael Beytenu: 8
Yamina (formerly the New Right) 8
Labor-Gesher: 5
Democratic Union: 5
Shas: 8
United Torah Judaism: 8
Joint Arab List: 11

The Channel 11 exit poll gave both the Likud and Blue and White 32 seats, with 10 for Yisrael Beytenu.

Channel 11 predicted 12 seats for the Joint Arab List, 9 for Shas, 8 for United Torah Judaism, 7 for Yamina, and 5 each for Labor-Gesher and the Democratic Union.

The Channel 11 results also showed Otzma Yehudit failing to pass the minimum threshold.

Channel 13’s exit poll also showed Blue and White in the lead, with 33 seats, followed by the Likud at 31.

Channel 13 predicted 13 seats for the Joint Arab List, 9 for Shas, 8 each for United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beytenu, and 6 each for Yamina, the Democratic Union, and Labor-Gesher.

Otzma Yehudit failed to pass the minimum electoral threshold.

BREAKING: Netanyahu fails to secure ruling majority, exit polls showhttps://t.co/mMk93EqJbm pic.twitter.com/iFQzit89jG

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) September 17, 2019

How do the numbers shake out when we look at the blocs?

According to Channel 12, the Right has 57 seats compared to 55 for the Center-Left.

Channel 13 gave 58 seats to the Center-Left and 54 to the Right, with Yisrael Beytenu in a position to tip the scales, with a projected 8 seats.

Yisrael Beytenu had even more influence on the blocs according to the Channel 11 results, which gave the Center-Left 54 seats and 56 seats to the Right, with 10 for Yisrael Beytenu.

When the results of all exit polls were integrated, the Right and Left were tied with 56 seats each, with 8 in the hands of Yisrael Beytenu.

It will take at least two days of ballot counting to arrive at the final results for the second election of 2019.

Voting took place at 10,885 voting stations across the country, with 6,394,030 Israelis on the rolls as eligible to vote.

In the previous election, in April, parties needed 32,860 votes for one Knesset mandate. To pass the electoral threshold, parties needed 3.25% of the overall votes. The voter turnout rate in the April election was 68.5%.

As of 8 p.m., 3,418,531 voters had cast their ballots, 63.7% of eligible voters and 2.4 percentage points more than had voted at the same time on Election Day on April 9.

In the 70 years since the country’s first election, the voter turnout rate has steadily declined. The 1949 election recorded an all-time high turnout of 86.9%.

In 2013, for the first time since the state’s inception, less than 70% of Israelis exercised their democratic right to vote (68.9%), while voter turnout for the 17th Knesset in 2006 was at an all-time low of 63.5%.

After that point, subsequent elections began seeing an uptick in voter participation and in the election for the 20th Knesset voter turnout passed the 70% mark for the first time in a decade (72.34%).

As stated, voter turnout in April dipped below the 70% mark to 68.5%, and this time around, in an effort to learn from their mistakes, the parties have plans to make sure their supporters actually go out and vote.