TEL AVIV, Israel—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be headed for a narrow victory in Israel’s election Tuesday, with exit polls predicting a one-seat parliamentary majority for his alliance of right-wing and religious parties.
Analysts stressed that the exit polls were far from conclusive and that the actual vote count would take a few days to tally—longer than usual due to COVID-19 regulations that dramatically increased the number of polling stations and absentee ballots. But the exit polls seemed to confirm the upward trend for Netanyahu in recent weeks, powered by Israel’s world-leading vaccination campaign and the reopening of the economy just 16 days ago.
