National Unity party chairman Defense Minister Benny Gantz met Wednesday morning with fellow senior party members Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot following the election for the 25th Knesset which was held yesterday.
They stated following the meeting: "The State of Israel faces great challenges that a government that relies on extremist elements will face. We have decided to continue to establish the National Unity' party as a significant movement in the center of the political arena. We respect the decision of the voters, and after the formation of the government, we will serve as a responsible and statesmanlike opposition while we continue to establish the 'National Unity' party as a governmental alternative."
The National Unity faction will gather on Sunday for a party meeting by the Knesset plenum to discuss its next steps.
While the counting of the votes continues, the current tallies show the right-wing bloc under Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu winning a majority of 65 seats in the 2th Knesset. However, several parties are hovering near the electoral threshold, and should they clear the threshold the electoral map could change significantly.
In the meantime, the Likud party appears to have won 32 Knesset seats, while Yesh Atid appears to have won 24 and Religious Zionism 14. The National Unity party appears to have won 12 seats, while Sephardic-haredi Shas thus far has 11.
Among the parties with single-digit seat numbers are United Torah Judaism, with eight, and Yisrael Beytenu, Ra'am (United Arab List) and Hadash-Ta'al (Joint Arab List) with five seats each. The Labor party appears to have scraped by, winning four seats.
Still below the electoral threshold of 3.25% of the vote are Meretz (3.19%), the Arab Balad party (3.01%), and the Jewish Home party (1.17%).
On Tuesday, nearly five million Israelis voted in the elections, for the highest turnout since 1999.
Earlier, Netanyahu was spotted going on a victory stroll through Jerusalem's Sacher Park