Former Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu poised to return to power with far right's help

Tel Aviv: In Israel, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared well placed to return to power after partial results showed he was on course to win a majority in Knesset election with the far right's help.

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel. Over 86 per cent of the votes were counted when the reports last came in and Netanyahu's bloc was set to win 65 out of 120 seats in the general election.

However, Netanyahu will be dependent on the support of the Religious Zionism party.



This was Israel's fifth general election in less than four years. On the other hand, Prime Minister Yair Lapid told his supporters that nothing was yet decided and his centre-left Yesh Atid party would for final results.

According to the partial results, Netanyahu's Likud is all set to emerge as the biggest party winning 32 seats while Religious Zionism has bagged 14 seats. Yesh Atid, which led the coalition which brought down Mr Netanyahu in elections last year, has bagged 24 seats.