By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter
Israel's prime minister has implored right-wing voters to "stop a left-wing government from coming to power" at a rally in Tel Aviv before the country goes to the polls on Tuesday.
Crowds gathered in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Sunday night as Mr Netanyahu urged supporters to turn out in high number to combat flagging opinion poll ratings.
"Our rivals are investing a huge effort to harm me and the Likud, to open a gap between my party, the Likud, and (our rivals)," Mr Netanyahu said.
"If we don't close this gap, there is a real danger that a left-wing government will rise to power."
The three-time Israeli prime minister has in recent days intensified his rhetoric, making accusations that foreign powers are conspiring to unseat him.
Speaking to Israel's Channel 2 News on Saturday, he said: "There is a huge international effort, with major money, partnering up with leftist organisations here and also with media figures in order to bring down the Likud government that I head."
The final opinion polls of the campaign show the Zionist Union, led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, taking between 24 and 26 of parliament's 120 seats, compared with 20-22 seats for Likud.
The Zionist Union has accused Mr Netanyahu of mounting a scare campaign, in an effort to divert attention from Israel's socio-economic challenges, such as rising house prices and high living costs.
Their campaign has focused on a plan to combat rising house prices, as well as a commitment to improve relations with the US, which they say were damaged by Mr Netanyahu's recent speech to Congress on Iran that was derided by the White House, and to re-start negotiations with the Palestinians.
But the party that gets the most seats will not necessarily lead the next government.
The next prime minister will be the leader who is able to build a coalition commanding a majority of at least 61 seats.
"The two largest parties are at about 20% in the polls, they'd be declared losers in a British election, but they're going to win the election here," says Professor Reuven Hazan, head of the political science department at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
"Whatever the percentage of the national vote a party gets, that's exactly the number of seats it will get," he added.
"With only 20% of the votes, and therefore only 20% of the seats, they will have to form a majority coalition.
"So the name of the game is not so much who gets more seats, but who can actually form that majority after the elections."
The comparative strength of the right-wing bloc over the left and centre bloc has led some analysts to consider Mr Netanyahu better placed to form a governing coalition, even if his Likud party receives fewer seats than the Zionist Union.
There are likely to be at least 11 parties taking seats from across the political spectrum, including the Jewish orthodox and Arab parties.
Final polls put the newly formed Joint Arab list - an alliance of Israel's main Arab parties - in third place at around 13 seats.
Both the hard right Jewish Home and centre-right Yesh Atid look set to win between 11 and 12 seats, while the newly formed centre-right Kulanu could pick up between 8 and 10 seats.
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