Israel was waking up with a new political landscape. For the first time, the prime minister was elected on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the Knesset.
The elections for prime minister resulted in a surprise victory for Benjamin Netanyahu, by a margin of 29,457 votes, less than 1% of the total number of votes cast, and much smaller than the number of spoiled votes.
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This came after the initial exit polls had predicted a Shimon Peres win, spawning the phrase "went to sleep with Peres, woke up with Netanyahu".
Although Peres lost the prime ministerial vote – his fourth and last defeat as Labour leader – Labour emerged as the largest party in the Knesset, winning two more seats