But analysts see little hope of forming a stable coalition to lead the EU's poorest state.
The liberals and Labour now have the chance to form a stable coalition.
Netanyahu's triumphant speech to his supporters on Tuesday night, following the declaration of the exit polls, couldn't conceal the fact that his party's showing in the elections was disappointing, and that the task of forming a stable coalition remains thorny.
Moreover, no single group has a majority in the chamber, nor is there anything like a stable majority coalition.
His campaign will be deemed a success if the Labour-led peace camp wins enough seats to prevent Mr Sharon from forming a stable rightist-religious coalition.
Italian bank stocks, which had surged more than 7% on hopes of a stable centre-left coalition government under Pier Luigi Bersani, also gave up most of their gains.
As to the Israeli Left, to date, Netanyahu has successfully built a strong, stable center-right coalition by going over its head and forming a national consensus around support for defensible borders, a united Jerusalem and rejecting unreciprocated concessions of any kind.
The collective hope of investors: Indonesia is set for stable politics and a new coalition government with the clout to stay the restructuring course.
It seems unlikely that this coalition will be as stable as the last one, which stayed in power for four years - an unusual feat in Israeli politics.
In short, stable majorities are harder to establish (a coalition even runs Britain, where the first-past-the-post system is designed for single-party government).
The good news is that Congress has found it easy to form a coalition with what looks like a stable parliamentary majority.
Strangest of all, Sinn Fein has become part of a governing coalition in Northern Ireland that is so stable as to verge on the boring.
With the count going through the night, investors woke to what some described as the worst outcome the prospect that no party or coalition would be able to form a stable government.
It so happens that the Barisan Nasional, the ruling coalition that has been at the centre of Malaysian politics since 1972 has been incredibly stable, with a membership practically unchanged and at the core certainly unchanged for 31 years.
After visiting the governor-general's residence in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters that voters had a choice between his party forming a stable majority government in uncertain times, or a what he called a "reckless" opposition coalition.
The People's Party, led by Andris Skele, a former prime minister, is now hoping to patch together a coalition with Latvia's Way, whose platform including support for a stable currency and the privatisation of the few firms that remain in state hands is virtually identical to its own.
And I am confident that the new government is going to recognize that it is in the interests of all the coalition partners to help President Karzai succeed, and to build a more prosperous and secure and stable Afghanistan, which, in turn, will help assure our long-term security.
WHITEHOUSE: President Obama and President Karzai Press Availability
But the European Union's reaction to the prospect of the Freedom Party joining a ruling coalition has been hypocritical and wholly disproportionate to Austria's supposed offence in seeking to build a stable government backed by a majority of the voters.
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