Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to supporters as reacts to exit poll figures.(Photo: Menahem Kahana, AFP/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM — With nearly all the votes counted Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud Party swept to a decisive victory in the country's general election.
Likud appeared to have earned 30 out of the 120 seats in the country's Knesset, or parliament, local media reported. The center-left opposition Zionist Union party led by Isaac Herzog appeared to have won 24 seats.
The results mean Likud is now in a strong position to try to form a coalition government. That process could take weeks to conclude.
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Netanyahu, who lagged in pre-election polls, had declared an early triumph. "Against all odds: a great victory for the Likud, a major victory for the national camp led by the Likud, a major victory for the people of Israel," he tweeted in Hebrew late Tuesday evening.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday morning, Herzog said he spoke to Netanyahu, congratulated him and wished him success.
"This is not an easy morning for us and for those who believe in our way. We will lead the fight, together with our partners in Knesset, for the values believe in," Herzog and the party's co-leader Tzipi Livni said earlier Wednesday in a statement, Haaretz reported.
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"We will fight on behalf of the citizens of Israel for social justice, diplomatic horizon, equality and democracy in hope that we can maintain a just, safe Jewish and democratic state. We thank from the bottom of our heart to all those who believe in us and in our way," the pair said.
The Joint Arab List, an alliance of Israeli Arab parties, came third with 14 seats.
Voter turnout was 71.8%, up from 67.8% in the 2013 elections.
The last available opinion polls published Friday before the election had showed Herzog with a small lead.
Israel has a complicated, proportional representation electoral system. The party with the most seats short of a majority does not necessarily get the prime minister's post. Rather, the elections begin a period of negotiations with smaller parties toward building a governing coalition of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
Among the smaller parties, Yesh Atid secured 11 seats in parliament, Kulanu got 10, Bayit Yehudi won 8 seats and Shas notched up 7. United Torah Judaism and Yisrael Beytenu both secured 6 seats. Meretz got 4.
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Israel President Reuven Rivlin will now decide on who to call on to attempt to form the next government. Traditionally that task has gone to the leader of the party that receives the most votes. It could require weeks of political negotiations.
In the closing days of the campaign, Netanyahu moved farther to the right to solidify support among splintered hard-right voters and to galvanize his Likud base.
He pledged to block establishment of a Palestinian state, a reversal from past statements and at odds with much of the international community's support for a two-state solution to the issue. He also tried to rally supporters by warning his leadership was in jeopardy because Israeli Arab voters were turning out "in droves'' to oppose him. Arabs make up 20% of the Israeli population.
But after nine years in the prime minister's job, the election was a referendum on Netanyahu, who angered President Obama and jeopardized the bipartisan support Israel has long enjoyed in the United States by speaking to Congress at the invitation of majority Republicans. During his speech, he clashed with Obama over U.S. talks with Iran on curbing that country's nuclear program.
In a phone interview on Channel 10 TV, Netanyahu ruled out forming a coalition government with Herzog saying he would seek an alliance with the ultra-national Jewish Home party (Bayit Yehudi), which also opposes Palestinian statehood.
Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara in London
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