Netanyahu claims victory as Israeli exit polls show tight results

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu closed a gap with centre-left rival Isaac Herzog in a hard-fought Israeli election on Tuesday, exit polls showed, leaving both men with a chance to rule but Netanyahu with the clearer path to forming a coalition.

A new centrist party, Kulanu, led by a former member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud, seemed destined to emerge the kingmaker in possibly weeks of coalition negotiations.

Two television polls, for Channel 10 and Channel 1, said Likud and Herzog's Zionist Union had each secured 27 seats each in the 120-member Knesset. Channel 2 gave Netanyahu a narrow edge, with 28 to 27 for his challenger.

Final results were not expected until early on Wednesday morning.

In the final days of the campaign, opinion polls had given Zionist Union a lead of three to four seats over Likud, a margin that appeared to give Herzog a fighting chance to score an upset over the prime minister.

If the exit polls prove accurate, Netanyahu could have smoother path towards a coalition, with right-wing and religious parties his traditional allies.

But Herzog also could prevail, should Kulanu and a bloc of Arab Israelis — which the polls predicted would be Israel's third largest party — throw their support behind him.

A national unity government grouping both major parties is also possible. Before the vote, Netanyahu rejected such a coalition.

On Twitter, Netanyahu claimed a "great victory" in Israel's election.

"Against all odds: a great victory for Likud, a great victory for the national camp led by Likud, a great victory for the people of Israel," Netanyahu wrote on his official Twitter account.

Netanyahu took extraordinary steps to drum up support from right-wing voters, reversing policy on the eve of the election with an announcement that he would never allow a Palestinian state.