Israel's 'Recount': Dead Heat Awaits Absentee, Military Votes
Netanyahu has already invited Lapid to join his government, which would bring him to 50 seats. With either the conservative "Jewish Home" party, or the religious Shas party, Netanyahu could add another 11 seats. However, Lapid would prefer to sit in government with another center-left party, and may refuse to make the compromises necessary to form a coalition with Shas. The Labor party, which came in third with 15 seats, would likely refuse to join Netanyahu and is in fact trying to build a coalition that can unseat him.
