Netanyahu and Eisenkot vie to build a governing coalition after Israel's deadlocked vote

■ Steady

Netanyahu and Eisenkot vie to build a coalition after deadlocked Israeli election

On Saturday, Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot were competing to assemble a coalition in the Knesset, according to Al Jazeera, after no bloc reached a majority in Tuesday's election. Final results show Netanyahu's bloc on 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc on 48, with Arab-majority parties holding a record 19 and a potential kingmaker role. Likud has alleged, without evidence, that voter fraud helped Arab parties' gains.

• Parties need 61 seats to form a government, and neither bloc has reached that figure.
• The opposition has a majority only if Eisenkot's Jewish bloc works with Palestinian-Israeli parties, which most of its parties have ruled out.
• Netanyahu claimed Arab parties used foreign backing to steal the election and urged Shin Bet to investigate; critics accuse him of smear tactics.
• Israel's Central Elections Committee asked the Shin Bet chief to investigate alleged foreign interference, including suspected Qatar-linked funding.
• The president urged parties to form a coalition and avoid new elections.