The race is on for claiming the victory

Zionist Union’s Shelly Yachimovich is trying to claim in a Channel 2 interview that there’s still room for a left-wing government, based on the Arab list and Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu.

But the stark fact is Netanyahu’s natural coalition is much larger, according to exit polls.

To seal the consciousness of a Netanyahu victory, Netanyahu has already called Jewish Home’s Naftali Bennett in the last few minutes, and is slated to call Avigdor Liberman in the coming minutes.

The call to Moshe Kahlon could be among his last. Kahlon will take some convincing. His 10-seat showing makes him a decisive factor in the new coalition, and his demand was already clear in the campaign: to be finance minister.