Israel's election has left Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc out in front but without the parliamentary majority it needs to govern, according to The Washington Post. The paper reports that difficult negotiations now lie ahead as the parties work out whether a viable coalition can be assembled.
Dawn also reports that Netanyahu's bloc finished ahead in the vote but fell well short of a majority. With no bloc holding a majority of seats, the result points to a period of bargaining rather than an immediate change of government.
The campaign itself was combative. Reuters reports that Netanyahu, at risk of losing power, stepped up attacks on Israel's Arab parties as the vote approached. CNN, meanwhile, framed the outcome as a deadlock and asked how it might be broken, while The Economist published a cartoon on the election.
Under Israel's system, a party or bloc needs a majority of parliamentary seats to form a stable government, and the reporting so far does not indicate that any side has reached that threshold. The Washington Post's account suggests the coming talks will be hard, though the material available does not specify which parties are negotiating or what terms are on the table.
What to watch next: whether Netanyahu's bloc can convert its lead into a majority through coalition deals, or whether the deadlock described by CNN leads to another election.
