A bitter night in Israel for all who craved a fresh start. Netanyahu survives for now – and we are more divided than ever | Dahlia Scheindlin

After an exit poll that gave the opposition hope, reality dawned. With all the votes on the right, the prospects for the left and centre now look bleak, says Tel Aviv-based political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin After an exit poll that gave the opposition hope, reality dawned. With all the votes on the right, the prospects for the left and centre now look bleak Following Israel’s nail-biting election, nearly every political community in the country experienced triumph and despair.

The initial results swung wildly from the first exit polls to the slow real-vote count; the bloc of parties loyal to the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, might yet win, and each side feels that its fate hangs in the balance. So far, only one certainty remains: Israel’s bitter divisions are deeper than ever. At 10pm Jerusalem time, three television stations published their exit polls by veteran pollsters showing a stinging loss for Netanyahu’s current