Polls are saying the coalition will get 30-some seats, the most of all the parties signed up to participate.

Likud-Beitenu is trending more to the right. Haim Malka, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a growing nationalistic and religious faction has asserted influence within the internal politics of Likud.

Another right-wing party, a religious and nationalist movement called Jewish Home, is gaining strength. Its leader is Naftali Bennett, a charismatic rising star in Israel.

He's Netanyahu's former chief of staff, a self-made high-tech millionaire with a well-regarded military track record. His movement, analysts say, could gain Knesset seats in the teens.

The group wants to annex territory in the West Bank and backed a ground invasion during last year's war in Gaza.

Malka explained Bennett's appeal to some voters.

"He's young, he's fresh, " Malka said. "He hasn't been in politics long."

Bennett's party, a coalition of smaller political parties, attracted voters from other movements, including Likud.

"He personally is not a deceiver. He is a sincere and worthy individual," said Ari Shavit, columnist for the daily Haaretz.

"But the phenomena is a deceiving phenomena which enables the extreme right to win the hearts of many moderate right-wingers and even centralists who don't understand that when the vote for this high-tech guy from Ra'anana they actually vote for an ideology which wants to annex most of the West Bank," Shavit said.

Jewish Home's gain in popularity might "explain why, in the aftermath of the November 29 U.N. vote on Palestine, Netanyahu pushed for settlement planning (albeit not construction) northeast of Jerusalem, in the controversial 4.5 square-mile area designated E-1," said the Washington Institute's David Makovsky, an Israel expert.

Palestinians are upset with that plan because settlements in that spot would break up the contiguous nature of a future state.

Smaller right-wing, religious and/or centrist parties could help round out a predominantly right-wing government.

There's less political flexibility with a right-wing coalition, Singh says, but that might be the only option for Netanyahu.

Data "projects a weaker position for Prime Minister Netanyahyu in coalition politics," Singh says.

This "could well mean a more right-wing government than that he currently heads, though -- depending on what deals he is able to cut -- this is hardly a foregone conclusion."

Will the government include centrists and leftists?

One of the positives for the center-left, which had been more dominant in other times, is that Netanyahu might want political flexibility. If an opportunity for peace negotiations with Palestinians would present itself, for example, he would want wiggle room to operate.

Three main left or centrist parties have emerged, with Labor predicted as getting the second highest number of seats in the high teens after Likud-Beitenu.

"In contrast to Netanyahu's merger, efforts to unite center-left parties have floundered thus far, drastically hurting their prospects," Makovsky said.

Labor's Yacimovich has focused her energy almost solely on economic issues, roiling Israeli citizens. She doesn't much touch on foreign policy as the party had in the past.

Yesh Atid is focused on the economy and halting the military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox civilians. Its leader is Yair Lapid, whose late father, Tommy Lapid, led Shinui, a onetime secularist party that took on the influence and power of the ultra-Orthodox.

Hatnua is led by former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. She too is focused on the economy and backs Israel-Palestinian peace talks. Her emergence raises a question: Would she be a good fit for foreign minister or another Cabinet position in a Netanyahu government?

There is the once-mighty Kadima, the breakaway from Likud and Livni's former party, that many analysts say is freefalling and in danger of disappearing.

One poll said Yesh Atid could get 11 seats and Hatnua, eight. There are other parties on the left, including Meretz.