Likud Leads as Election Results Trickle In

By תהילה צ'קול

Translated & summarized from Now 14 by baba

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Hebrew · 8 newsrooms covering

The Likud party is leading in Israel's 26th Knesset elections with 27.75% of votes counted from over 320,000 ballots. Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar party and Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad party follow in the preliminary results. The election saw a record voter turnout of 77.7%, which may affect the electoral threshold for parties. Special ballots from security and medical personnel are still to be counted and could alter the final outcome.

The story in 5 lines · by baba

Likud leads with 27.75% of votes counted in the 26th Knesset election.
Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar party is second with 16.34% of votes.
Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad party is third with 8.99% of votes.
A record 77.7% voter turnout was recorded in the election.
Special ballots from security and medical personnel are yet to be counted.

Likud Leads as Election Results Trickle In — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

As the 26th Knesset election results continue to be tallied, the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is currently in the lead with 27.75% of the votes counted so far. This preliminary data is based on the counting of 908 ballot boxes, representing over 320,000 valid votes.

Following Likud, Gadi Eisenkot's Yishar party is in second place with 16.34%, and Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad party is third with 8.99%. Other parties showing in the initial count include Yisrael Beiteinu at 8.14% and Otzma Yehudit at 7.22%.

The Central Elections Committee has seen an increase in the pace of data processing, following a very slow start to the night. Initially, results from only 15 ballot boxes were recorded, but this number has since grown significantly.

This election has seen a high and unusual voter turnout, reaching 77.7% with 5,695,682 citizens casting ballots by the time polls closed. This record participation since 2001 impacts the electoral threshold, making it more challenging for smaller, undecided parties.

The ongoing manual count and the subsequent verification of hundreds of thousands of special ballots, including those from IDF soldiers, security forces, police, and medical teams, could lead to significant shifts in the final seat allocation and the overall political map.