JERUSALEM — When the first election results begin to flow in on the night of March 17, Israelis may need to get out their calculators.

Under Israel’s fractious, multiparty system, the leader of the party that garners the most votes is not guaranteed to become the next prime minister. Instead, victory belongs to the party leader who has the best chance of cobbling together a government coalition with smaller parties in order to control at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, or Parliament.

So while the parties making up Israel’s traditional right bloc and left bloc slug it out, the power may rest with kingmakers like the medium-size centrist parties or small factions representing particular interest groups.