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Israel planned to announce the final results of its gridlocked election after tallying soldiers' votes that could tip the balance in the ongoing battle to lead the country.
More than 150,000 ballots, cast mainly in military camps, as well as in prisons and Israeli diplomat missions, are still in play after Tuesday's national poll that left the prospect of Israel and the Palestinians making peace as distant as ever.
Political analysts have noted a shift to the right by troops in past voting, a trend they said could help hawkish Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu in his competing claim against Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni of centrist Kadima for the premiership.
Votes counted in civilian polling stations gave Kadima 28 seats to Likud's 27, a margin that could change after the remaining military ballots are added to the equation.
Netanyahu said a strong rightist bloc elected to parliament meant he should be prime minister.
Livni cited Kadima's lead in saying the post should be hers.
It is up to President Shimon Peres, after consultations with party leaders, to decide whether to tap Netanyahu, 59, a former prime minister, or Livni, 50, Israel's chief peace negotiator with the Palestinians, to try to form a government.
If Netanyahu catches up to Livni after the remaining votes are counted, Peres would likely have no choice but to assign him the task, political commentators said.
A spokesman for the Israel Elections Committee said the final count would be announced at a news conference later on Thursday.
The election results become official on Feb. 18 when they are published in the government gazette. Peres would then have a week to make his nomination, and the candidate he chooses, 42 days to attempt to form a government.
Coalition bargaining
As political parties began negotiating possible pacts on Wednesday, Israeli media said it seemed Peres would have no choice but to pick Netanyahu if majority rightists all back him.
But it would be the first time in Israel's 60-year history that the winner of an election would be passed over.
Avigdor Lieberman's far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, which surged to third place in the ballot with its demand to test the loyalties of Israeli Arabs, emerged as a potential kingmaker.
He met Livni and Netanyahu on Wednesday, appearing to favour the latter though he deferred any decision. Another linchpin party, the conservative Shas, held it own talks with Likud.
Danny Ayalon, one of the 15 Yisrael Beiteinu candidates elected to parliament, said on Thursday: "Right now, everything is open."
Netanyahu had been cruising ahead in opinion polls until Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government launched a military offensive against Hamas and other factions in the Gaza Strip to stop them firing rockets at towns in southern Israel.
The 22-day January war cost 1,300 Palestinian lives versus 13 Israelis killed, but had massive public support. After a truce on January 18, the election campaign resumed as Israel pursued Egyptian-brokered talks with Hamas on a durable Gaza truce.
Livni led the main peace talks last year with the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, and would try to revive them. Netanyahu is cooler on the key trade-offs for an accord -- ceding occupied land and curbing Jewish settlement.
Lieberman and religious parties in a coalition would be likely to set virtually impossible conditions for a peace deal.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, said whoever ends up in charge Israel is obliged to continue talks and to meet international obligations.
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