Bennett set to get extra Knesset seat
Votes of 220,000 soldiers, diplomats and prisoners may cause minor shift in Knesset seats
Habayit Hayehudi is expected to win an extra Knesset seat, apparently at the expense of one of the Arab parties, according to a tally of the soldiers' votes. This would bring Naftali Bennett's party to a total of 12 mandates.
The count also indicates that Kadima will pass the electoral threshold. The Central Elections committee is set to publish the results in the coming hours.
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Members of the Elections Committee on Thursday finished counting the votes not included in the general tally of Tuesday's Knesset elections.
The roughly 220,000 votes include those of IDF soldiers, diplomatic envoys, patients, the disabled, women who live in shelters, police officers and prisoners.
Counting the votes (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Lapid, Bennett likely to benefit from count (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Polls show that the soldiers' votes are likely to strengthen Yesh Atid and conversely weaken Hadash and the United List Ta'al.
Habayit Hayehudi and the Likud-Beteinu have signed a deal to share surplus votes.
Hundreds of Election Committee workers have been counting the votes manually since Wednesday night.
The Central Elections Committee is set to present the election results to President Shimon Peres next week. Peres in turn will then task one candidate with forming the government.
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