Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the verge of a stunning comeback as preliminary results indicated he was on track to gain a parliamentary majority with the support of the far right.
In the general election, Mr. Netanyahu's bloc is expected to win 65 out of 120 seats after 86% of the ballots were counted.
He exclaimed to his euphoric fans in Jerusalem, "We are near to a tremendous victory.
He will need the backing of the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party, though.
Its founders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are well known for their anti-Arab rhetoric and support for expelling "disloyal" public officials and citizens.
Mr. Ben-Gvir was a supporter of the late Meir Kahane, an ultra-nationalist who was openly racist and whose organisation was outlawed in Israel and listed by the US as a terrorist organisation. As for Mr. Ben-Gvir, he was found guilty of assisting a terrorist group and inciting bigotry.
When Mr. Ben-Gvir was visiting a predominately Arab neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem last month, he was pelted with a stone by Palestinians. He was then seen pulling out a gun and urging police to shoot the offenders.
Ben Gvir made a commitment to "fight for everyone of Israel, even those who despise me" while speaking to media on Wednesday.
At 03:30 local time (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived at the Likud party's election night location to raucous cheers.
He announced to his ecstatic followers, "We have received a great vote of confidence from the people of Israel."
The room had been a scene of euphoria hours earlier when exit polls suggested that Mr. Netanyahu's party would win 61 or 62 seats. People had leapt up and down, waved flags, and yelled his nickname, Bibi. One man blew the shofar, or ram's horn, a ritual instrument used by some Jews at significant occasions, repeatedly.
However, the current prime minister, Yair Lapid, informed his supporters at his party's camp in Tel Aviv that "nothing" had yet been determined and that his center-left Yesh Atid party would wait for the results.
One of Israel's most divisive politicians, Mr. Netanyahu, 73, is hated by many on the left and centre but adored by Likud's base.
He firmly supports Israel's settlement-building activities in the West Bank, which it has occupied since the Middle East war of 1967. International law considers those settlements to be unlawful, while Israel disputes this.
He opposes the proposal put forth by the majority of the international community, including the Biden administration in the US, to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a means of resolving the Israel-Palestinian problem.
Additionally, Mr. Netanyahu is currently facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, all of which he vehemently rejects. His potential coalition partners with the Likud have pledged to change the law, which would put an end to his trial.
With 32 seats, Likud is projected to be the largest party in the partial results and will likely have a majority thanks to the backing of nationalist and religious parties.
The coalition that defeated Mr. Netanyahu in the polls last year was led by Yesh Atid, which is predicted to win 24 seats.
It appears that religious Zionism has won 14 seats, making it the third-largest party.
At the event's location in Jerusalem, Julian, a supporter of Religious Zionism, said, "It will be better now."
"It will be much better when [politician Itamar Ben-Gvir of Religious Zionism] is appointed minister of public safety because he will restore security for the Israeli people. That is very significant."
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Gayil Talshir, a political scientist, cautioned that if the exit polls "represent the real results, Israel is on its path to becoming Orban's Hungary," which the EU just labelled a "electoral autocrat."
After analysts projected a gridlock, if Mr. Netanyahu can win a majority, it will prevent the possibility of a sixth election in just four years.
It would be a remarkable turnabout for Mr. Netanyahu, whose political future had been all but written off after Mr. Lapid had put together an unlikely coalition of ideologically disparate parties to seize power in June 2021 with the shared objective of preventing Mr. Netanyahu from forming a government.
One year after the coalition government decided it could not continue and collapsed when resignations meant it no longer had a majority, Mr. Netanyahu made a promise to bring it down as swiftly as possible.
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