Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads preliminary results of the parliamentary elections in Israel, but still falls short of the majority needed to form a new government.
According to preliminary data, after 84% of the votes were counted, Netanyahu's political bloc has secured 54 seats, while the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot has 49 seats in parliament.
Meanwhile, Arab parties are expected to be represented with 17 deputies in the Knesset, the 120-seat Israeli parliament.
Despite his lead in terms of seats, Netanyahu has not reached the threshold of 61 MPs, which constitutes the parliamentary majority needed to form a government.
The opposition bloc is in the same situation, as it does not have sufficient numbers to secure a majority on its own.
Under these conditions, Arab parties could have an important role in negotiations to create a parliamentary majority.
However, the situation remains open, as the counting process continues and the final results have not yet been made official.
