Today is a big day for Benjamin Netanyahu. Hopefully he wins despite President Obama using U.S. taxpayer funds to help his opponent. The general informational results will be announced via exit polling around 4PM EST (10pm Israel) ~ JPost ~
9:00pm (3:00am Israel) UPDATE:
In a rather stunning development it appears the “exit polls” were not actually all that accurate.
Interestingly, we were in a discussion about this earlier. It appears Netanyahu has RESOUNDINGLY defeated his opposition and the exit polls were based on “peer pressure” from Israelis trying to avoid left-wing liberal admonishment.
In the booth they voted for safety, security and a grown-up in charge. But when interviewed, it appears, some wanted to give off the “cool hopey/changey vibe’.
https://twitter.com/cerenomri/status/577999648012390400
UPDATE: As the preliminary results come in it appears Netanyahu has closed a “well publicized” gap. It appears the race is VERY CLOSE. However, Netanyahu has strong preliminary support that appears more than enough to support a Netanyahu led coalition government:
Netanyahu on exit poll results: A great victory, against all odds http://t.co/KaIdo46uYK pic.twitter.com/VOPG4fpNmC
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) March 17, 2015
Breaking: The cars are about to leave @Netanyahu's official residence for the victory party in Tel Aviv. He wants an early victory speech.
— Gil Hoffman (@Gil_Hoffman) March 17, 2015
#BREAKING – #i24elections: Likud welcomes exit poll results; Netanyahu, Bennett to begin building coalition government
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) March 17, 2015
Lots of very happy people at Likud/Bibi HQ with exit polls showing neck and neck results with Herzog. #Israel pic.twitter.com/pSsd3USyOg
— Alex Marquardt (@MarquardtA) March 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/Yair_Rosenberg/status/577922194325397506
BREAKING: Exit polls show two main parties neck-and-neck, slight advantage to Likud http://t.co/KaIdo46uYK pic.twitter.com/n5CejVPwNT
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) March 17, 2015
Here are the #Israel exit polls: Ch.2: Likud 28, Zionist Union 27. Ch.10: Likud 27, Zionist 27. CH 1: Likud 27, Zionist 27 too close to call
— Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) March 17, 2015
As of 6 pm 54.6% voted, as opposed to 55.5% in 2013
— Lahav Harkov 🎗️ (@LahavHarkov) March 17, 2015
ISRAEL – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast his vote Tuesday morning, arriving in the Paula Ben Gurion school in Jerusalem with his family as voting in the general election began across the country.
Before he voted, Netanyahu posted a notice on his Facebook page pledging to first invite Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali Bennett into his coalition.
Netanyahu reiterated that he has no plans to form a unity government with the Zionist Union.
Nearly six million voters will be eligible to cast ballots in more than 10,000 polling stations across the country Tuesday in an election that is expected to attract the highest voter turnout since 1999.
Until that race, voter turnouts regularly approached 80 percent.
Since then, they have not hit 70%. But the closeness of the race – combined with boosted resources aimed at getting out the vote – are expected to significantly increase turnout.
Exit polls will be broadcast at 10 p.m. Tuesday on the three television networks, but official results will not be presented to President Reuven Rivlin until March 25. Formal consultations on forming a new government will begin next week, but Rivlin will receive calls before then in an effort to build a stable coalition as soon as possible. (read more)