JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Emerging kingmaker in Israeli elections, Avigdor Lieberman, on Tuesday called for forming a unity government that will include his own party and Israel's' two largest parties, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party and Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White party.
Addressing his supporters at his far-right Israel Our Home party's headquarters, Lieberman said he would agree that his own faction will stay outside the coalition if it brings the Likud party and the Blue and White party together.
His remarks came after exit polls released by Israel's three main TV channels showed neither Netanyahu's nor Gantz's party has enough seats to form a majority coalition without Lieberman's party.
Lieberman urged Gantz and Netanyahu to publicly announce they would support a unity government.
He appealed to President Reuven Rivlin to summon Gantz and Netanyahu on Friday for "an informal talk" about forming a possible unity government.
"I suggest the president would speed up the process and not to wait for the final results," he said.
Exit poll results showed that the Blue and White party led by Gantz, a former military chief, and the Likud party led by Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, were virtually tied with a slim margin of 33-32 seats.
The results cast doubts on Netanyahu's decade-long rule, as his Likud party might be short of securing a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, with far-right parties, which is needed to form a coalition government.
