Netanyahu and his opponent both spin election as victory as results trickle in

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot both spun the parliamentary results as a victory for their respective sides on election night, despite full results not yet being confirmed.

As of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday local time, 84.5% of the vote had been counted, with the Central Elections Committee giving Netanyahu’s bloc 54 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s bloc at 49 seats, and the Arab-led parties of Joint List and Ra’am at 17 seats, in Israel’s 120-seat Knesset. Many of the remaining votes come from double envelopes, submitted by soldiers, reservists, diplomats, hospital patients, and displaced Israelis. These votes historically lean heavily towards right-wing Zionist parties.