Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats as Israel's Arab parties hold the balance

Neither bloc reaches 61 seats

Israelis voted on 27 October, and with more than 92% of ballots counted by Wednesday afternoon, Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc held 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The bloc of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, stood at 48 seats, while the Joint List and Ra'am together had 19. Neither camp reached the 61 seats needed for a majority. Counted within the country, the opposition including the Arab parties totals 67 seats, and Netanyahu's bloc has lost its majority. Likud remains the largest party but with fewer seats, while the far-right allies Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir also declined.

Netanyahu bloc53

Change bloc (Jewish opposition)48

Arab parties (Joint List and Ra'am)19

Netanyahu bloc

53 seats

Change bloc (Jewish opposition)

48 seats

Arab parties (Joint List and Ra'am)

19 seats

Data from the article text

Likud alleges fraud by Arab parties

Likud issued a statement saying the election was 'stolen' by Arab parties that it says support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state. The party listed what it called serious offences, including bribery, threats, violence, fraud and the use of banned software to sway voters. Likud says it will submit testimony and evidence to police, the Shin Bet security service and the Central Elections Committee, citing thousands of envelopes with cash and Ra'am ballots, threats and violence against polling station staff, multiple voters behind the screen, double identities and mismatches between envelope counts and voter numbers. These are Likud's allegations, presented in its own statement. On election day Netanyahu had already accused the Arab parties, Ra'am in particular, of trying to steal the vote, and urged supporters to go to the polling stations rather than the beach.

Three arrests over alleged vote buying

Police arrested three people on suspicion of trying to buy votes for Ra'am. Police said the suspects had envelopes and more than 24,000 shekels in cash, about $7,900. Din Livne, the interim director general of the Central Elections Committee, called the incident 'unusual' but said it was an isolated case under investigation. He said the suspects were caught near their homes before they went to the polling stations. Netanyahu reportedly demanded an investigation by the police and the Shin Bet into the moves of the Arab parties.

Double envelopes still to be counted

The Central Elections Committee estimates that 430,000 to 480,000 ballots cast in 'double envelopes' remain uncounted, a preliminary figure down from about 600,000 reported earlier. These ballots mainly come from soldiers, prisoners, diplomats abroad and others who cannot vote at their registered polling station. They are counted only after officials confirm the voter did not vote elsewhere. At about 40,000 votes per seat, the committee's range corresponds to roughly 12 seats, though the final effect depends on how the ballots split and which parties clear the threshold. The count is expected to weigh mainly on the Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties.

One report says the full count will be announced on the afternoon of 29 October and official final results on 4 November. Another report says counting of about 500,000 ballots cast by soldiers and other voters away from their registered polling stations is due to begin at midnight, with final results expected by Thursday, 29 October. Estimates of the Arab parties' seats also vary: 19 in most reports, 18 in an analysis of the figures by skai.gr, and 17 in an earlier report.

Herzog and the path to a government

President Isaac Herzog urged the parties in a video message to do everything possible to avoid another election, and said he would assign a candidate to try to form a government in the coming days. Netanyahu stays caretaker prime minister until the negotiations conclude. Analysts Anastasios Karampampas and Triantafyllos Karatrantos, speaking to skai.gr, said removing Netanyahu would not automatically change Israeli policy. Eisenkot keeps hard positions on security and the Palestinian question. The Change bloc includes Naftali Bennett's Together, Yair Golan's Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu, and Karampampas pointed to mistrust within the opposition as well as the difficulty the Bennett-Lapid government had sustaining cooperation with Arab parties.