Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that a newly formed Israeli coalition that is poised to unseat him was the result of “the greatest election fraud” in the history of democracy.

Hours after Netanyahu’s comments, Naftali Bennett, a nationalist set to replace him as prime minister, called on Israel’s longest-serving leader not to leave “scorched earth” behind and accept that “people are allowed to establish a government - even if you don’t head it”.

Netanyahu made his sweeping accusation at a time when Israel’s domestic security chief has warned publicly about the prospect of political violence.

“We are witnessing the greatest election fraud in the history of the country, in my opinion in the history of any democracy”, - Netanyahu said in comments to legislators from his right-wing Likud party.