Israel election: Netanyahu's Likud storms to victory

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party has won a surprise victory in Israel's election.

Exit polls had forecast a dead heat but with almost all votes counted, results give Likud a clear lead over its main rival, the centre-left Zionist Union.

The outcome gives Mr Netanyahu a strong chance of forming a right-wing coalition government.

It puts the incumbent on course to clinch a fourth term and become Israel's longest-serving prime minster.  The latest tally gives Likud 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, with the Zionist Union on 24 seats.

Zionist Union leader Yitzhak Herzog called Mr Netanyahu early on Wednesday to congratulate him on the result and wished him "good luck".

"Nothing has changed, we will keep fighting for a just society," he was quoted as saying by Israeli newspaper Haaretz.  Read More at BBC