The Israeli elections.. More than 50% of the votes have been counted.. What do the expectations indicate?

- According to the Central Elections Commission, more than half of the votes have been counted in Israel so far. Updated estimates in the Israeli media indicate that the parties supporting the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may strengthen their lead, but will still fall short of achieving an absolute majority.

As of 8:15 a.m. local time, 51% of the votes had been counted, according to the Central Elections Commission. The Likud Party led by Netanyahu has received 20.68% of the votes so far, while the Yashar Party led by opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot has obtained 16.72%.

If this trend continues, it is expected that the bloc supporting Netanyahu will obtain 55 seats in the Knesset, compared to 49 seats for the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot, while other parties will obtain 16 seats, according to the Israeli Channel 12 and the Ynet website. To achieve an absolute majority, 61 seats are required.

Since there are a large number of votes yet to be counted, these numbers may change. Opinion polls conducted at polling stations earlier showed smaller differences between the two sides. It was expected that Netanyahu's bloc would obtain 52 seats, Eisenkot's coalition would obtain 49 seats, while other parties would obtain 19 seats.