Netanyahu Bloc Leads in Israeli Knesset Elections With Over 70% of Votes Counted

As of Wednesday, October 28, vote counting continues in Israel's 26th Knesset elections. Preliminary results from the Central Elections Committee indicate that over 70.7% of ballots have been processed. Parties aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc are projected to win 54 seats, while four parties in Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc are expected to secure 47 seats. Two Arab parties together are projected to gain 19 seats. These are interim results and may change as more votes are tallied.

The parties in Netanyahu's current coalition, including Likud, Shas, Yahadut HaTorah, Otzma Yehudit, and Tzionut Datit Ve'Zehut, collectively hold 54 projected seats. The opposition parties, Yashar, Be'yahad, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Demokrattim, are projected to win 47 seats. The Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, are projected to win 19 seats. A majority in the Knesset requires 61 seats, and neither major bloc currently has enough to form a government.

Earlier in the counting process, with 60% of votes processed, the distribution was 56 seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 48 for the opposition, and 16 for Arab parties. At 66.2% of votes counted, Netanyahu's bloc had 54 seats, Eisenkot's bloc had 48, and Arab parties had 18. The latest figures show a shift of one seat from the opposition bloc to the Arab parties, while Netanyahu's bloc remained stable.

Turnout for the October 27 elections was 77.7%, with 5,695,682 voters participating, the highest since 1999. The counting process is ongoing, and will include ballots from soldiers, diplomats, prisoners, and hospital patients, which could potentially alter the seat distribution, especially for parties near the electoral threshold of 3.25%. Final official results are expected by November 4, 2026.