THE 120 seats in the Knesset are allocated by proportional representation to national party lists subject to a minimum threshold of at least 2 per cent of the national vote. To date 98 per cent of the vote has been counted, but the remaining 2 per cent, the votes of soldiers, which will be counted today, have in the past contributed an extra one or two seats to the right.
Kadima– Led by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, the ruling, centrist party was founded in 2005 by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon when he led much of Likud into an alliance with Labor rebels to promote a security plan to pull troops from Gaza.
When Mr Sharon fell into a coma, current prime minister Ehud Olmert led Kadima to victory in a 2006 election but lost support over that year’s Lebanon war. Mr Olmert resigned last September in a graft scandal.
Likud– the main party of the right. Leader Benjamin Netanyahu wants to shift focus of peace talks with the Palestinians away from territorial issues and concentrate instead on boosting their economy. Has also pledged to end Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip. Likud backs a two-state solution but says a future Palestinian state must be demilitarised.
Labor– ruled for the first half of Israel's 60-year history. Labor then spearheaded interim peace accords with the Palestinians in the 1990s under Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. The party is now led by defence minister Ehud Barak who was prime minister from 1999 to 2001. During that period he pulled Israeli troops out of south Lebanon and held peace talks with the Palestinians and Syria, failing to clinch deals.
Yisrael Beiteinu(Our Home is Israel) – led by Avigdor Lieberman who according to some critics is racist. Mr Lieberman says land where many of Israel's 1.5 million Arabs live should be "swapped" for West Bank Jewish settlements in a peace deal with the Palestinians.
Shas– A fixture in successive governments, the Union of Sephardic Torah Observers (Shas) effectively triggered an election by refusing to back Ms Livni in coalition talks. Shas's mostly poor supporters drawn from a fast-growing community of religious Jews of Middle Eastern origin.
Meretz– a left-wing party not in the outgoing coalition.
Hadash, United Arab List and Balad– represent Israel's Arab citizens with Meretz. They support making concessions for peace.
United Torah Judaism– represents ultra-Orthodox Jews of Ashkenazi, or European, background.
National Union and Jewish Home– far right religious parties that are determined not to cede the West Bank.