No clear winner emerges in Israeli parliamentary elections: First exit polls

Initial exit polls indicated no clear winner in Israel's parliamentary elections Tuesday as vote counting began following the closure of polling stations, according to the first projections.

A Channel 13 exit poll projected 50 seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc, 53 for Gadi Eisenkot's bloc and 17 for Arab parties in the 120-seat Knesset.

Polling stations closed at 10 pm local time (2000GMT)..

The exit poll projections are not official election results.

The Central Elections Committee earlier reported voter turnout of 74.3% as of 8 pm local time (1800GMT).

According to the committee, 5,449,277 people had cast their ballots out of 7,331,981 eligible voters.