Netanyahu gaining edge after Israeli elections

JERUSALEM – Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s long-shot effort to form a majority bloc in parliament and become Israel’s next prime minister appeared to be fading Thursday, despite final returns upholding her centrist party’s narrow first-place finish in national elections.

After a second day of post-election lobbying, Livni had failed to win the support of any other party to thwart a rival leadership bid by conservative opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Vote totals released by the Central Elections Committee confirmed a rightward shift giving Netanyahu and his Likud Party the upper hand in competing efforts to amass a governing coalition.

Livni’s Kadima Party will get 28 seats in the 120-seat parliament and Likud 27, far less than the 61-seat majority needed to govern alone.

Neither Livni nor Netanyahu can form a governing coalition without the support of Avigdor Lieberman and the 15 votes of his ultranationalist party. Lieberman met Wednesday with both candidates, who each reportedly offered him a high Cabinet post.

Lieberman’s party platform has some appeal to each side. Netanyahu has endorsed his proposal that Israel’s Arab citizens sign a loyalty oath to the Jewish state. But Lieberman’s willingness to create two states, one Jewish and one Palestinian, is compatible with Livni’s vision.

It is up to President Shimon Peres to decide who gets the first shot at forming a government.