Backgrounder: Election results for key Israeli parties

Israelis voted Tuesday for a 120-member parliament. Here is a summary of the main political parties that passed the electoral threshold and made it to the next Israeli parliament, according to exit polls.

Official results are expected early Wednesday.

LIKUD

Israel's main right-wing party has been in power since 2009. Led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it expresses hardline stances regarding Iran's nuclear program and the Palestinians. In the past Netanyahu expressed support for a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but on the eve of the elections he said that if he will be re-elected, "there will be no Palestinian state."

The party has been criticized for lacking an agenda on socio-economic issues such as high living costs and housing crisis.

Over the past two weeks Netanyahu was losing momentum as opposition leader Isaac Herzog opened a narrow gap over him. However, exit polls on Tuesday showed neck-and-neck results, with 27-28 seats for the Likud and 27 seats for the Zionist Union.

ZIONIST UNION

Israel's main opposition party and Netanyahu's principle rival. The centrist party was formed in December 2014, as a coalition of the historic Labor, headed by Isaac Herzog, and Hatnua (the movement), a two-year-old party led by former Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Herzog has pledged to stop the Jewish construction outside major settlement blocs in the Palestinian territory, and to revive the peace talks with the Palestinians.

He also emphasized his economic platform, which promises to restrain the high cost of living in the country, particularly the housing prices.

According to exit polls, the Zionist Union won 27 seats.

THE JOINT LIST

The Joint List includes the Arab parties (Balad, Ra'am, Ta'al) and Hadash, a socialist Arab-Jewish party. Announced in January and headed by recently appointed Hadash leader Aiman Uda, the list was established in response to a controversial law, which raised the electoral threshold, threatening the existence of the parties individually. Some believe the law was intentionally designed to hurt the Arab parties, which far-right wing politicians deem a fifth column in Israeli politics.

The list advocates for co-existence and equal representation for Israeli Arabs, who constitute 20 percent of the population, and improvement of the ties between Jews and Arabs amid mounting tensions, fueled by racism and nationalistic sentiments, in the Israeli society.

According to exit polls, the Joint List won 12 to 13 seats and would become the third-largest party in the Israeli parliament.

YESH ATID

Yesh Atid, a center-oriented party led by former journalist Yair Lapid, had been a dark horse in the 2013 elections, gaining 19 seats in the last parliament.

It had been a vital partner of Netanyahu's ruling coalition, with Lapid serving as finance minister in the cabinet.

Lapid was fired by Netanyahu for an alleged joint attempt with Livni to topple his government.

Lapid's popularity dipped due to the controversial tax hikes policy he pursued, the slowest growth rate in the past four years, the high costs of living and the housing crisis.

Exit polls put Lapid and his party at 11 to 12 seats.

KULANU

This new party was formed by Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud member and one of the more popular Israeli politicians in recent years. Kahlon, who served as communication and welfare minister in Netanyahu's former government, delighted the Israelis as he opened the cellphone market for competition and decreased the amounts Israelis pay for their mobile phone calls. The party's agenda is mainly focused on socioeconomic issues, and exit polls showed it won nine to ten seats in the parliament.

JEWISH HOME

The ultra-nationalistic right-wing party represents mainly the settlement movement and modern Orthodox. The party supports construction in the settlements, annexing the West Bank to Israel and has passed nationalistic and anti-immigration legislation at the parliament over the past two years. Party leader Naftali Bennett, a religious Jew and high-tech millionaire, attempted to expand the party's appeal to secular Jews.

Exit polls put the Jewish Home at eight to nine seats, down from its current 12 seats.

SHAS

The ultra-Orthodox party, led by Aryeh Deri, caters especially for religious Jews of Sephardic origin (from Arab states) and setting out to help Israel's poor. According to exit poll, it lost four seats and will hold only seven seats in the next parliament.

YISRAEL BEITENU

Israel Beytenu, an ultra right-wing party led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, took a significant crash in the elections, losing seven seats and ending with only five seats, according to exit polls.

The party got entangled in corruption scandal in which several senior party members are involved.

Lieberman has been known for his far-right stances on Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. He has offered to transfer the Israeli Arab population to a future Palestinian state and called for re-conquering the Hamas-held Gaza Strip.

MERETZ

A historic left wing party, headed by Zehava Gal-On, advocates peace with the Palestinians and economic equality. Exit polls put it at five seats.

UNITED TORAH JUDAISM

United Torah Judaism party, the ultra-orthodox Ashkenazi (European Jews) party, won six to seven seats, according to exit polls. Endit