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LIVE BLOG: Netanyahu Declares Victory; Likud Supporters Jubilant

CBN

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Read down for updates.

1:00 p.m. (Israeli time) -- National elections got off to a rousing start Tuesday, with more than three-quarter of a million Israelis voting within the first three hours after polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m.

1:30 p.m. -- Netanyahu supporters outside a polling station in Jerusalem's German Colony.

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1:51 p.m. -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is "still a gap" between his Likud party and the Labor party. Speaking at a Jerusalem polling station after voting, Netanyahu said if he's elected he would ask Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett to form a coalition government. "There will not be a unity government with the Labor party."

2:00 p.m. -- Shades of President Obama - "Zionist Camp" chairman and Labor party leader Isaac (Buji) Herzog, said Israel's national elections today are about "change and hope." After voting in Tel Aviv, Herzog said, "This is a big celebration for the democracy, the people will decide who will lead them. These elections are between change and hope and despair and disappointment."

By noon, 26.5 percent of Israelis had voted according to the Central Elections Committee. That's similar to voter turnout in the 2013 election at the same time.

Election Day is a holiday in Israel, so children and parents spend some quality time together.

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4:00 p.m. -- More than 45 percent of registered voters have cast their ballots, close to the same percentage at this hour in the 2013 national elections.

The 90-year-old grandfather of Likud MK Ze'ev Elkin collapsed and died just after voting this afternoon, The Times of Israel reported. He apparently hit his head when he fell and paramedics were unable to resuscitate him. Elkin, number eight on the Likud list, chairs the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

6:59 p.m. -- A 6:45 press conference scheduled by Netanyahu from his Jerusalem residence was canceled after the Zionist Union and Yesh Atid parties petitioned Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran, who heads the Central Election Committee. Jourbran ruled against it, saying a press conference could be construed as a campaign ad on Election Day. 

CBN News Senior Editor John Waage at Likud election headquarters in Tel Aviv.

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Media members are set up for Likud Party rally in Tel Aviv.

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8:00 p.m. -- With two hours remaining until polls close, voter turnout reached 65.7 percent, the Central Elections Committee reported, slightly higher than the 2013 elections at this juncture.

10:15 p.m. --  Israel's Channel 1 exit poll shows Likud and Zionist Union tied at 27 seats each, while Channel 2 gives Likud 28 and Zionist Union 27.

Exit polls favor Netanyahu as the most likely to be asked to form the next government. Votes will be counted throughout the night. President Rivlin will meet with party heads before deciding who has the best chance of forming a stable coalition. 

Likud supporters are jubilant at what appears to be a big victory for Likud.

In a statement released on Twitter, Netanyahu said "against all odds" his Likud party and the nationalist camp secured a "great victory."

1:30 a.m. CBN News videographer hard at work on the press floor waiting for PM Netanyahu to arrive and speak after his parties surprise comeback!

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"King" Bibi arrives at Likud election headquarters.

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The man of the night! He was able to help pull his party to a surprise comeback this evening!

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