<p>Israel’s fourth election in two years has ended in another stalemate, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opponents able to win a parliamentary majority, according to final results released Thursday by the Israeli election authority.</p>.<p>The results set the stage for weeks or even months of coalition negotiations that many analysts expect may fail, prompting yet another election in late summer.</p>.<p>The results, although final, are not yet official since they have yet to be formally presented to the country’s largely ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin. That will happen Wednesday, a spokesman for the central elections committee said.</p>.<p>But the count confirms earlier projections that Netanyahu’s alliance of right-wing and religious parties won 52 seats, nine short of an overall majority. A heterogeneous collection of centrist, left-wing, right-wing and Arab opposition parties won 57.</p>.<p>Two unaligned parties — the Islamist Arab party Raam and the right-wing Yamina — won four and seven seats respectively and will be the focus of competing attempts by Netanyahu and the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, to form a coalition.</p>.<p>Turnout was 66.7%, the lowest since 2009.</p>.<p>The gridlock prolongs a two-year political morass that has left Israelis without a stable government or a national budget in the middle of the pandemic, all while confronting vital questions about how to reform their election system and mend deep social divides.</p>.<p>After two elections in 2019, no one was able to piece together a majority coalition and form a government. After the 2020 contest, Netanyahu and some of his adversaries entered into an unwieldy coalition government that could not agree on a budget, forcing the latest election.</p>.<p>The continued stalemate leaves Netanyahu in power as a caretaker prime minister, even as he stands trial on corruption charges that he denies.</p>.<p>Critics fear that if Netanyahu eventually forms a coalition government, he will use his office to push through a law that would grant him legal immunity. Netanyahu rejects the claim but has promised reforms that would limit the role of the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Israel’s fourth election in two years has ended in another stalemate, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opponents able to win a parliamentary majority, according to final results released Thursday by the Israeli election authority.</p>.<p>The results set the stage for weeks or even months of coalition negotiations that many analysts expect may fail, prompting yet another election in late summer.</p>.<p>The results, although final, are not yet official since they have yet to be formally presented to the country’s largely ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin. That will happen Wednesday, a spokesman for the central elections committee said.</p>.<p>But the count confirms earlier projections that Netanyahu’s alliance of right-wing and religious parties won 52 seats, nine short of an overall majority. A heterogeneous collection of centrist, left-wing, right-wing and Arab opposition parties won 57.</p>.<p>Two unaligned parties — the Islamist Arab party Raam and the right-wing Yamina — won four and seven seats respectively and will be the focus of competing attempts by Netanyahu and the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, to form a coalition.</p>.<p>Turnout was 66.7%, the lowest since 2009.</p>.<p>The gridlock prolongs a two-year political morass that has left Israelis without a stable government or a national budget in the middle of the pandemic, all while confronting vital questions about how to reform their election system and mend deep social divides.</p>.<p>After two elections in 2019, no one was able to piece together a majority coalition and form a government. After the 2020 contest, Netanyahu and some of his adversaries entered into an unwieldy coalition government that could not agree on a budget, forcing the latest election.</p>.<p>The continued stalemate leaves Netanyahu in power as a caretaker prime minister, even as he stands trial on corruption charges that he denies.</p>.<p>Critics fear that if Netanyahu eventually forms a coalition government, he will use his office to push through a law that would grant him legal immunity. Netanyahu rejects the claim but has promised reforms that would limit the role of the Supreme Court.</p>