JERUSALEM, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in talks with potential coalition partners on Wednesday after nearly-completed elections results showed the right-wing bloc secured a majority in the parliament.
Despite a tie between the parties of the veteran right-wing leader and his main challenger, Benny Gantz, the right-wing and the ultra-Orthodox parties secured a majority bloc of 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament, according to figures released by Israel's Central Election Committee after counting some 97 percent of the votes.
Netanyahu's Likud party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party won 35 seats each, according to the close-to-final results.
No party in the history of Israel has ever won enough seats to form a government, meaning the size of the blocs has a key role in the coalition building. A coalition needs at least 61 seats.
Both ultra-Orthodox parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, won eight seats each, becoming the third largest parties in the Israeli parliament, or the Knesset.
Spokesmen for Shas and United Torah Judaism issued separate statements saying they have spoken with Netanyahu over the phone and will support his future coalition. Both parties are part of Netanyahu's current coalition.
The Union of Right-Wing Parties, a newly-formed coalition list of far-right and pro-settler parties, is another natural candidate for Netanyahu's future coalition. Bezalel Smotrich, co-leader of the party told Channel 12 TV news that he has spoken with Netanyahu over the phone and expressed his support to the potential coalition.
Smotrich reiterated his intention to support the legislation of a law to prevent incumbent prime ministers from being indicted with criminal offenses. The law would shield Netanyahu from being charged with corruption. Israel's attorney general already said he intends to indict the prime minister with three separate cases of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, pending a hearing in June.
Leader of the Kulanu party, Moshe Kahlon, who currently serves as finance minister, also said that he is "part of the nationalist camp" and would support Netanyahu as prime minister.
If Netanyahu will form the next government, it would be his fifth term in office and his fourth consecutive term as prime minister. He would become the longest-serving.
Gantz, Israel's ex-military chief, claimed victory on Tuesday night. But the center-left wing parties and the Arab parties had 55 seats, according to the recent results, meaning he is unlikely to form a government.
On Wednesday, he told journalists outside his home that his party, which was formed only some two months before the elections, "had made a historic achievement. It is a new dawn."
Some votes -- including of soldiers, diplomats, and prisoners -- have yet to be counted because they cast their votes in unusual circumstances that take longer to be counted. Most of these votes are expected to be counted by Thursday.
The final official results are announced by the Central Elections Committee eight days after an election.
