Israel's Netanyahu makes last-ditch efforts to avert election defeat

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to consolidate Israel's fractious right-wing parties ahead of a Tuesday deadline in order to avoid an election loss forecast by opinion polls.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, is seeking a record seventh term in the October 27 election.

According to Reuters news agency, surveys have for months been pointing to a defeat for his nationalist-religious coalition.

Netanyahu has therefore been pressing allies to merge their candidate lists and raise their chances of gaining parliament seats, so far with only partial success.

Their deadline, when running parties must submit their final lists of candidates, expires on Tuesday night.

"When we unite, we win. When we splinter, we lose," Netanyahu said in an August 30 interview on Channel 14, a pro-Netanyahu television station.

"I am doing all I can, as I did in the previous election, to unite these parties."