Exit polls released Tuesday night showed Israel's centrist Kadima party won the most parliamentary seats in the general election. Yet the political picture remains unclear as its main rival Likud also has something to claim victory.
According to the percentage of votes each party garnered in the15-hour-long election, Kadima won 30 seats in the 120-member parliament, leading the right-wing Likud party only by two, showed a survey by Israeli TV Channel 10.
The ultra-nationalist Israel Beiteinu party and the center-left Labor party were found to respectively gain 15 and 13 seats.
Another poll conducted by Channel 2 also put Kadima in the first place with 29 seats, and Likud the second with 27, followed by Israel Beiteinu and Labor respectively with 15 and 13. In the same order, the Channel 1 survey put the figures at 30, 28, 14 and13.
The exit polls overturned the findings of most of earlier opinion polls, which indicated that the Likud enjoyed a small edge in the run-up to a neck-and-neck race between the two front-runners.
Reliable counting results from the Central Elections Committee is expected before dawn Wednesday.
Local news service Ynet reported that the full count of votes, including those cast in advance by overseas diplomatic missions and the army, would not be completed before Thursday afternoon.
The committee is scheduled to publish the official results on Feb. 18.
Following the publication of the official figures, President Shimon Peres will hold consultations with leaders of parliamentary factions and then assign the cabinet-making task to a lawmaker who has the best chance of success. Traditionally the mission goes to the leader of the biggest party in the parliament.
Should Kadima's victory be proved, Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni would be best positioned to receive the presidential mandate. Following the publication of the exit polls, she said the public has chosen Kadima, and that her party would form a government.
However, it is not a sure case.
In light of the daunting fragmentariness of Israel's political realm, any prime minister-designate has to cobble together a coalition that enjoys a majority in the parliament, which means that it heavily depends on inter-partisan bargaining whether she would become the second woman premier in Israel's 61-year history.
The exit polls also augured ill for her piecing efforts, as they found that the right-wing bloc, led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, would take away 63 or 64 seats, generating at least a slight possibility for her to be unable to secure a viable coalition.
A defiant Netanyahu, a former prime minister, told his supporters that the right-wing bloc has won a clear victory, and that he would become Israel's next prime minister.
Undesirable news for Livni also came from the Israel Beiteinu party, which is very likely to become the king-maker. While claiming a victory for the rightist bloc, its chief Avigdor Lieberman said that he wants a national right-wing government.
By Israel's basic laws, the appointed lawmaker has at most 42 days to form a new government. Should the process fail, the president may entrust the task to a second lawmaker, who then has 28 days to finish the mission. In case of another failure, a third lawmaker might be tasked with a 14-day time limit.
In September, Livni failed to establish a cabinet to replace the caretaker one led by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, bringing forth the general election a year ahead of its original schedule.
Until the new government is formed, Olmert, who was forced to resign amid a corruption scandal, will remain in office.