Most of the votes have been counted (it’s the middle of the night in Israel). Out of the 33 political parties participating, 5 major and 7 minor parties have elected one or more MKs (Members of the incoming Knesset):
With 88 percent of the votes counted, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party is in first place with 29 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party following closely behind with 27 seats.
As the vote progresses, Labor stands at 13 seats, while Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party is expected to garner 16 seats.
Now it is time for coalition-building, as neither Livni’s Kadima nor Netanyahu’s Likud won enough seats to rule on its own or with its generally-allied parties. It is not clear whether Livni or Netanyahu will be the next Prime Minister of Israel or, as in the case of a Kadima-Likud coalition, they’d have to rotate.