以色列周二举行大选后，总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡及其盟友有望在以色列议会中获得最多席位，但他及其主要竞争对手加迪·艾森科特都没有明确的途径赢得多数席位。
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies appear on track to win the most seats in Israel’s parliament after an election Tuesday, though neither he nor his main competitor, Gadi Eisenkot, has a clear path to a majority.
目前选票正在统计中，随后可能会进行漫长的谈判，各党派试图组建执政联盟。如果谈判失败，以色列可能会再进行一轮选举。我们什么时候才能知道是否有人获胜？
Votes are now being tallied, followed by potentially long negotiations as parties try to assemble a governing coalition. If those talks fail, Israel could head to another round of elections. When will we know if anyone won?
以色列中央选举委员会周三正在统计选票，可能需要到周四才能知道选举的最终结果。
Israel’s Central Election Committee was tallying votes on Wednesday, and it will likely take until Thursday before definitive results of the election are known.
该委员会还将统计数十万以色列士兵以及外交人员从国外投出的选票。
The committee will also tally hundreds of thousands of ballots by Israeli soldiers, as well as diplomats, who voted from outside the country.
在委员会计票之前，以色列各大电视频道进行了出口民调。这些民调有助于大致了解各党派的相对实力，但不应被视为精确结果的可靠指标，尤其是在以色列碎片化的政治体制下。
The committee’s tallying followed exit polls from major Israeli TV channels. Those polls can help give a general sense of each party’s relative strength but are not considered a reliable barometer of precise results, particularly in Israel’s fragmented political system.
最终计票结果预计将于10月30日公布，官方选举结果将在选举一周后的11月4日正式公布。为什么这么复杂？
The final vote tally is expected by October 30 and official election results are formally published a week after the election, on November 4. Why is it so complicated?
以色列议会的席位按比例代表制分配给全国性的政党名单，政党必须获得全国选票3.25%的门槛才能获得席位。
The Knesset seats are allocated by proportional representation to national party lists, with parties needing to pass a threshold of 3.25% of the national vote to secure seats.
普遍认为约有十几个政党有可能跨过这一门槛，因此最终计票和席位分配需要时间。结果公布后会发生什么？
About a dozen parties are widely thought to have a chance of crossing the threshold, so the final tally and seat allocation will take time. What happens after the results are published?
最终计票结束后，总统伊萨克·赫尔佐格将与各党派领导人磋商，了解他们希望谁担任总理，然后提名他认为最有可能组建政府的候选人。该被提名人最多有42天的时间来组建政府。
After the final tally is in, President Isaac Herzog will consult party leaders on whom they want as prime minister and then tap the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. That nominee has up to 42 days to form a government.
以色列从未有任何单一政党获得绝对多数席位，因此政府通常由多个政党组成的联盟执政，组阁谈判往往需要数周时间。每个议会席位都至关重要，小党通过成为关键盟友可以产生巨大影响。
No single party in Israel has ever won an outright majority, so governments are formed by a coalition of parties, and negotiations on forming a government often take weeks. Every Knesset seat counts and small parties can have a big impact by becoming kingmakers.
如果提名人未能成功，其他人将有机会尝试。若仍未形成政府，则将再次举行选举，现任内阁继续以看守政府身份执政。
If the nominee fails, others can get a chance to try. If no government emerges, another election is called, with the present cabinet staying on as a caretaker government.