Netanyahu's Likud Party Wins Israeli Election

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Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has scored a resounding victory in Israel's election, final results show.

With nearly all the votes counted, Likud appeared to have earned 30 of parliament's 120 seats.

Exit polls had shown a tight race with Isaac Herzog's Zionist Union, but the centre-left party ended up with just 24 seats.

Mr Herzog told reporters: "A few minutes ago I spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and congratulated him on his achievement and wished him luck."

Mr Netanyahu will now set about putting together a coalition government with right-wing and religious allies.

The win comes after he moved to the right in the final days of campaigning, including abandoning a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian state.

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Gallery: Israel Goes To The Polls In Tight Election

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his vote in Jerusalem

An Israeli soldier choosing a ballot from behind a voting booth near Ofakim

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Isaac Herzog, co-leader of centre-left Zionist Union party, poses for a photograph at his party's headquarters in Tel Aviv

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Mr Herzog places a note in the Western Wall, the holiest prayer site for Jews in Jerusalem

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A supporter of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party holds a campaign poster in Bnei Brak

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In a four-day pre-election blitz, he made a series of promises designed to shore up his Likud base and draw voters from other right-wing and nationalist parties.

As well as ruling out a Palestinian state, he also pledged to continue building settlements on occupied land.

His victory is likely to mean continued tensions with the United States, which has had an increasingly fraught relationship with Mr Netanyahu.

The win was unexpected as the last opinion polls published four days before the vote showed the Zionist Union with a four-seat advantage over Likud.

In a statement, Likud said Mr Netanyahu intended to form a new government within weeks, with negotiations already under way with the pro-settler Jewish Home party led by Naftali Bennett, and with religious groups.

The critical party to get on side will be centrist Kulanu, led by former Likud member Moshe Kahlon, who won 10 seats, making him a kingmaker given his ability to side with either Mr Netanyahu or the centre-left opposition.

"Against all odds, we achieved a great victory for the Likud," Mr Netanyahu said.

"I am proud of the people of Israel, who in the moment of truth knew how to distinguish between what is important and what is peripheral, and to insist on what is important.

"Reality is not waiting for us. The citizens of Israel expect us to quickly put together a leadership that will work for them regarding security, economy and society as we committed to do - and we will do so."

If he manages to form a workable coalition, it would give Mr Netanyahu a fourth term in office after the six years he has already spent in power.

It puts him on track to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister, a position currently held by the country's founding father and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who served between from 1948 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1963.

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