A day after Israel's election left the country in apparent deadlock, a fuller vote count has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc pulling narrowly ahead of his rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, though still short of the majority needed to govern alone.
With 85% of ballots counted, Netanyahu's Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies are on track to win 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, against 48 for Eisenkot's Yashar party and the other opposition parties in his bloc. Arab-led parties are on course to win an unprecedented 19 seats — enough to act as kingmakers, except that all but one of the Jewish parties have ruled out governing with them.
A Result Both Sides Are Still Claiming
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have said they intend to try to form a government. Netanyahu, appearing at Likud's Jerusalem headquarters, declared his bloc had won a "great majority" and said: "We must put in place a strong right-wing national government. It is forbidden, simply forbidden, to endanger Israel by forming a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties." His bloc's 53 seats mark an improvement on initial exit polls, though they are still 15 fewer than Likud and its allies controlled in the outgoing Knesset.
Eisenkot, addressing supporters at Yashar's Tel Aviv headquarters, argued the public had "spoken in favour of change": "The coalition of failure has lost the people's trust. I will work with my partners to ensure that the people's decision is translated into a Zionist government."
Record Turnout, a Long Wait Ahead
President Isaac Herzog praised Tuesday's 77.7% turnout, the country's highest in more than two decades, calling it "a badge of honour for Israeli society." With between 430,000 and 480,000 absentee ballots — from soldiers, diplomats and hospital patients — still to be counted, final results could take another day or two. Herzog said he expects to receive official results next week, after which he will consult with every parliamentary faction before inviting the leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government — a process that could take weeks and, if it fails, could force Israel back to the polls entirely.
Tuesday's vote was the first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, and campaign issues included accountability for the security failures that preceded those attacks, the conduct of the regional wars, conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the military and judicial reform. "We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections," Herzog said, adding that he expected "everyone who comes here to come with an open mind."
