Zionist Union Goes to Opposition After Losing Israeli Election

Zionist Union will not join a coalition of political parties led by newly-reelected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party Likud after Tuesday’s national election in Israel, Shelly Yachimovich, a senior Zionist Union member, said on Wednesday.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik) — With almost all votes tallied, the right-wing Likud party, led by Netanyahu, is projected to take 30 seats. The left-wing Zionist Union is projected to come in second with 24 seats.

"This morning I spoke with Herzog [head of the Zionist Union] and he explicitly told me that we are going to the opposition," Yachimovich said as quoted by Haaretz.

Prime Minister Netanyahu must put together a coalition of 61 lawmakers to have a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

According to Netanyahu, he has already spoken with those party leaders he plans to invite into the coalition. However, he did not mention Zionist Union's Isaac Herzog.

A total of 10 parties passed the required vote threshold to win seats in parliament.

More than 4 million Israelis or 71.8 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots on Tuesday, making it the highest turnout since 1999.