美国有线新闻 CNN 以色列大选初步结果出炉 内塔尼亚胡落后（在线收听）

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Results are coming in from Israel's second general election in six months time, but there are still some questions about the country's leadership going forward. That's our first story today on CNN 10. I'm Carl Azuz. Thank you for watching.

It was a close race. It could be days before the certified tally c?omes in with votes still arriving from Israelis in other parts of the world, and it could be weeks before the nation knows who its prime minister will be going forward and what its government looks like. The vote is being watched around the world because Israel is a close ally of the United States. Israel has several rivals in the Middle East and the policies of Israel's government helped shape the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

Election results on the path forward for Israel's government are uncertain. There are dozens of political parties in the country and no one party got the minimum 61 seats that are necessary to hold a majority in parliament and choose Israel's prime minister. So coalitions have to be formed, groups of parties that agree to work together. And based on the results of Tuesday's election so far, it looks like the party of former Israeli Military Leader Benny Gantz won 32 seats, one more seat than the party of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

So each of these men is doing all he can to convince a coalition of parties to support him to get to that 61 seat threshold and press forward with governing Israel. A CNN global affairs analyst says if neither of them can form that coalition, another third election could be held in January or the different parties would have to come together in a national unity government, when rival groups agree to govern together. It's not certain they'd all be willing to do that, but Israel has had several unity governments in the past.