No clear winner in Israel's election, exit polls indicate

Israelis voted Tuesday in an election pervaded by a sense of historical consequence, but the record turnout did not produce a clear winner, according to exit polls.

The projected results delivered a rebuke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose coalition finished behind that of challenger Gadi Eisenkot, who has offered himself as a hawkish alternative to the scandal-dogged Netanyahu. Neither has a clear path to forming a government, however, which could take weeks or months, or possibly another election.

But “in the short term, the prospect for Netanyahu to use his power even as interim prime minister to wage war against Iran is still there,” an International Crisis Group analyst told Politico.