India, Oct. 29 -- Israel's Central Elections Committee has projected Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot at 48, with Arab parties at 19, after counting ballots from almost five million voters. No bloc reaches the 61 seats needed to govern in the 120-member Knesset.

Counting of double-envelope ballots, cast by soldiers, prisoners, medical staff and officials posted abroad, is still under way. Follow this page for the count, the party-by-party numbers and the coalition talks that follow.

The Central Elections Committee said 98.6 per cent of ballots had been counted, excluding double envelopes, Ynet reported on Thursday. It put the count at 5,168,955 valid votes and 22,957 invalid votes. The c...