At the end of a grueling campaign, Yisrael Beitenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman reached the finish line with just eight seats. It was fewer than he hoped, but it was enough to achieve his first objective. He now holds the key to forming the next government. He also holds the political fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his hands. In that sense, he walked away the winner of round 2 of the 2019 election.

Netanyahu lost his duel with Liberman. He failed to brand Liberman as a “leftist” or hurt him in the major bastions of Russian immigrants. He even lost Likud voters to Liberman. Fed up with Netanyahu’s behavior and the alliances he formed with extremists and the ultra-Orthodox, they switched allegiance and voted for Yisrael Beitenu instead.

Now that the elections are over, Liberman has been spending most of his time resting at home in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim. He is preparing for the wedding of his son Amos next week while allowing political market forces to do their own thing. At this stage at least, he isn’t budging an inch from his election promise. He wants to see a secular unity government with just three parties: the Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beitenu. It is now thought that at the end of this long process, Netanyahu will find himself off the playing field.

By Sept. 19, Netanyahu had already united the “national bloc” around himself, with an official “letter of commitment.” This gave him 55 seats made up of the Likud, the right-wing parties and the ultra-Orthodox. Netanyahu said that the Likud and these parties will operate as one bloc over coalition negotiations. He then called on Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz to join him in a unity government.