Netanyahu's bloc wins 53 seats, short of a majority, as Arab parties reach 19

Final results leave no bloc with a majority

Israel's final official results, published overnight from Thursday 29 to Friday 30 October, confirm that neither major alliance can form a government on its own. The bloc of the right, the far right and ultra-Orthodox parties led by Benjamin Netanyahu holds 53 of the 120 Knesset seats, with Likud the largest single party on 27. The opposition alliance led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot wins 48 seats. The two Arab-led lists, Ra'am and the Joint List, together take 19 seats, making them the swing force in any coalition arithmetic.

Netanyahu bloc53

Eisenkot bloc48

Arab parties19

Netanyahu bloc

53 seats

Eisenkot bloc

48 seats

Arab parties

19 seats

Data from the article text

Turnout and the Arab vote

Turnout reached 77% on Tuesday 27 October, the highest since 1999 and the first ballot since Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Netanyahu's bloc is down 11 seats from the 64 it secured in 2022. Likud lost 5 of the 32 seats it held before, while Shas is projected at 6, five fewer than the 11 it won in 2022. United Torah Judaism held steady at 7 seats, Otzma Yehudit took 7, and Religious Zionism lost one seat, falling to 6. The two Arab lists roughly doubled the votes they won in 2022.

Fraud claims and the Shin Bet inquiry

Likud's statement said the elections had been stolen and offered no evidence for the claim, while also alleging foreign interference aimed at taking control of the Knesset. Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir went further and asked for the arrest of the heads of the Arab parties. Din Livnech, acting director of the Central Elections Committee, rejected the fraud accusations and said there was no sign that Arab parties had won votes unlawfully. The committee asked the Shin Bet internal security service to investigate complaints of possible foreign interference, but its statement named no country. Israeli press reports singled out Qatar and Turkey, accused of channelling money to encourage Arab Israeli turnout. Qatar and the Arab parties rejected the claims, and Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman, Majed al-Ansari, responded in a post.

President Isaac Herzog said the suspicions had to be examined, while urging restraint toward voters.

“We must not defame an entire community that exercised its right to vote.”

Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of trying to delegitimise the results, and Democrats leader Yair Golan put the charge more sharply.

“Netanyahu is trying to undermine the results of the elections through a despicable delegitimisation campaign aimed at the popular will and especially at the Arab community.”

Coalition talks and the poll

Eisenkot met Naftali Bennett at Bennett's home in Ra'anana on Thursday 29 October. In a joint statement, the two men said they had discussed efforts to form a good government in Israel as soon as possible. Golan met Mansour Abbas, leader of Ra'am, who is reported to have serious reservations about a minority government under Eisenkot backed from outside. Other parties in the opposition bloc oppose backing a government that relies on the Arab party.

A poll conducted on 27 October among 467 respondents who had already voted for one of four opposition parties, Yashar!, Beyachad, the Democrats and Yisrael Beiteinu, found 61% backing a government under Eisenkot with Ra'am's participation. Another 20% favoured new elections, 12% a rotation government with Netanyahu, and 7% a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties.

Eisenkot government with Ra'am61%

New elections20%

Rotation government with Netanyahu12%

Coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties7%

Eisenkot government with Ra'am

61 %

New elections

20 %

Rotation government with Netanyahu

12 %

Coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties

7 %

Data from the article text