Israeli Election Results Show No Clear Majority for Either Bloc

By חדשות סרוגים

Translated & summarized from Srugim by baba

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Hebrew · 4 newsrooms covering

Final results from Israel's 26th Knesset elections show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc leading the opposition's "change bloc" by five seats, with 53 mandates to 48. Neither bloc has reached the 61 seats needed to form a government. Netanyahu's Likud party dropped to 26 seats, while Gadi Eisenkot's party fell to 21. Approximately 14.4% of votes are still uncounted, potentially altering the final seat distribution.

The story in 5 lines · by baba

Neither bloc secured a majority in Israel's 26th Knesset elections, leaving government formation uncertain.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's bloc leads the opposition's change bloc by a narrow margin of 53 to 48 seats.
Netanyahu's Likud party holds 26 seats, while Gadi Eisenkot's party has 21 mandates.
Approximately 14.4% of votes remain uncounted, with potential to shift seat allocations.
The current coalition bloc needs eight more seats, and the change bloc requires 13 to form a government.

Israeli Election Results Show No Clear Majority for Either Bloc — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

Updated final election results for Israel's 26th Knesset show a narrow lead for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc over the "change bloc" led by Gadi Eisenkot, with neither side securing the necessary majority to form a government. After counting approximately 100% of the votes, excluding double envelopes, Netanyahu's current coalition bloc holds 53 seats, while the change bloc has 48 seats, a difference of only five mandates. The coalition bloc needs eight more seats to reach the 61-seat threshold for a majority, and the change bloc requires 13 additional seats.

The latest vote count, which incorporated an additional 454,190 votes, indicated shifts in seat allocation among major parties. Netanyahu's Likud party dropped one seat to 26, remaining the largest party in the Knesset. Eisenkot's party also lost a seat, falling to 21 mandates, maintaining a five-seat gap between the two largest parties. Naftali Bennett's Together party held steady with 12 seats, the Democrats secured eight, and Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu received seven.

Within Netanyahu's bloc, United Torah Judaism and Shas each garnered seven seats. Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit also secured seven seats, while Religious Zionism and Zehut together won six mandates. Meanwhile, the Joint List gained a seat to reach 12, and Ra'am increased its count to seven seats. These two Arab parties hold a combined 19 seats and are not included in the change bloc's 48-seat total.

Overall, the change bloc and the two Arab parties together hold 67 seats compared to the current coalition's 53. However, this is a purely numerical aggregation and does not signify political agreement for government formation. Parties that did not pass the electoral threshold showed no significant changes, with the Reservists and Economic party at 2.63% and the People of Israel party at 1.61% of the vote.

These results are not yet final, as approximately 14.4% of the votes remain uncounted, meaning the seat distribution could still change as the counting progresses.