Final Israel election results leave Netayahu on course

Final results from this week's Israeli election published Friday left Benjamin Netanyahu on course to remain prime minister although there were reports of pressure on him not to form another narrow right-wing coalition.

The Maariv newspaper quoted a senior official as saying that President Reuven Rivlin was trying to convene a meeting between Netanyahu and his defeated centrist challenger Benny Gantz on forming a broad government of national unity.

Such a government would enjoy a comfortable majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament and enable it to take difficult decisions on public spending cuts and the future of controversial military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews free of pressure from special interest groups.

A spokesman for the president's office said he had no word of any plans for such a meeting, when contacted by AFP.

No political party in Israel's more than 70-year history has ever won a majority entirely alone and Netanyahu faces a choice between forming a new ...