Wednesday 2 November 2022 12:40 PM Benjamin Netanyahu addresses cheering supporters as he looks set to return for ... trends now

Supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu chanted 'King of Israel' as he addressed them today, with the veteran politician on the cusp of returning for a third time as Prime Minister - despite being on trial for corruption charges.

As of 8am GMT, 84 percent of the vote in Israel's latest election had been counted. Initial results showed Netanyahu's alliance with the extreme right taking a narrow lead - meaning he could be set for a dramatic comeback.

The margins appear wafer-thin, however, and previous elections have shown that slight adjustments during the count can make or break a government.

As Israel's longest-serving leader seeks to make a comeback, initial results put Netanyahu's right-wing bloc ahead after the country's fifth election in four years.

He has already served five terms: the first from June 1996 to July 1999, and four further terms consecutively from March 2009 and June 2021.

The election has focused largely on Netanyahu's fitness to govern. On trial for a slew of corruption charges, Netanyahu, is seen by supporters as the victim of a witch hunt and vilified by opponents as a crook and threat to democracy.

Netanyahu's fourth and fifth terms were overshadowed by investigations into alleged bribery, fraud and a breach of trust. Israel's Police began investigating him in 2016, and recommended indictments. He was officially indicted in later 2019.

He denies all charges against him. 

Addressing his supporters on Wednesday after all votes had been cast, the divisive Netanyahu said his Likud party had received 'a huge vote of confidence'. As he did so, the crowd chanted 'King of Israel'. 

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid - the architect of the coalition which ousted Netanyahu last year - cautioned that 'nothing is decided'. '(We) will wait patiently... for the final results,' he told crowds backing his centrist Yesh Atid party.

While Israelis are split broadly between those who support or oppose Netanyahu, the former premier has been buoyed by votes for his extreme-right allies.

The Religious Zionism bloc of Itamar Ben-Gvir has made major gains and is expected to emerge as the third-largest party, behind Yesh Atid.

The controversial Ben-Gvir heralded the party's showing as a 'great achievement', which is expected to hand the right-wing a majority in the 120-seat parliament.

At an all-male campaign gathering in Jerusalem, religious men wearing Jewish skullcaps and waving Israeli flags danced in celebration for Ben-Gvir's success. At the celebration, Ben-Gvir's supporters chanted 'Death to terrorists.' 

There is still hope for those opposed to the possible return of Netanyahu as Prime Minister. A number of smaller parties are teetering on the edge of the threshold required to win seats in parliament and could yet change the political arithmetic. 

But the early signs were positive for the 73-year-old Netanyahu. The official count put his Likud on track for a first-place finish, with 31 seats, ahead of Yesh Atid's 24. 

Those figures, combined with current tallies for Religious Zionism and the two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties backing him, would give the right-wing bloc 65 seats.

Such an outright victory would end the short reign of the motley coalition, which succeeded in ending Netanyhau's record reign last year.

However, even if Netanyahu and his allies emerge victorious, it could still take weeks of negotiations for a coalition government to be formed. 

Yael Shomer, a senior lecturer in politics at Tel Aviv University, told AFP news agency the count was 'on pins and needles'. 'It could be on a few thousand votes' to impact seats and change the final result, she said.

Despite Israel's election fatigue, voters came out in force and pushed turnout to its highest rate since 2015, topping 71 percent, according to official figures.

Whatever the final result, Ben-Gvir was described as 'the big

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