Tens of thousands of Israeli expats flew home to vote in Tuesday’s election – most of them, according to media reports, hoping for a result which would end Benjamin Netanyahu’s prime ministership.

It looks as if they will be disappointed. We’ll know more when all votes are counted and seats allocated. But an apparent deadlock in the new Israeli Knesset is likely to mean that Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister – for the time being at least.

At 77.7%, according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee, it was the highest turnout in the country’s history and the results have reflected a considerable loss of support for Netanyahu and his coalition partners, who lost between ten and 13 seats at last count.

But Netnyahu’s party, Likud, will still have the highest number of seats in the Knesset and the “change” bloc centred around challenger Gadi Eisenkot has no clear way to unseat him, as things stand.

The main reason for the deadlock, according to Roi Zur of the University of Essex and Eitan Tzelgov from the University of East Anglia, is that both of the dominant blocs have currently ruled out involving either of the two Arab parties in a coalition.

The Arab parties achieved their best-ever election result, based on a turnout estimated at nearly 80%. The two parties, which represent Arab voters who make up 20% of Israel’s electorate, are on course to win 19 seats in the Knesset. But there is what Zur and Tzelgot call a “firewall” in operation in Israel where........

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