No matter who emerges as the victor in Israel’s general election next week, one thing is clear: neither Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud party nor Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima party – the two frontrunners – will do well enough to govern alone.

In most political systems, the two parties would seek to rally the support of like-minded parties to form either a centre-left or a centre-right coalition government. But according to analysts and party officials, this is as unlikely as a two-way tie-up between Likud and Kadima itself.