Double Envelope Votes Show Likud Leading, Ra'am Gains Mandate

As of Sunday morning, approximately 30,000 "double envelope" ballots have been counted, representing a portion of the over 400,000 such votes cast in the recent election. In this initial count, the Likud party leads with 18.5% of the votes, followed by the 'Together' party with 15.6%, Yesh Atid at 14.8%, Religious Zionism at 13.4%, Otzma Yehudit at 9.4%, Yisrael Beiteinu at 6.3%, the Democrats at 5.2%, and the Reservists at 4.4%.

Further down the list, Am Israel received 3.24%, Shas 3.1%, and United Torah Judaism 2.9%. The Joint List and Ra'am each garnered 0.9% in this initial tally. The results are currently not encouraging for the Reservists party, led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha, which requires approximately 12% of the double envelope votes to enter the Knesset. Shas and the Arab parties are also expected to lose some of their strength.

Overall, with 96.8% of regular polling stations and 91.7% of all votes tallied, neither bloc has a clear majority to form a government without breaking election promises. Netanyahu's bloc stands at 53 mandates, the change bloc at 48, and the Arab parties at 19. Ra'am has strengthened to 8 mandates, while the Joint List has 11.

The current mandate distribution shows Likud with 26, Yesh Atid with 21, the Joint List with 11, Together with 12, the Democrats with 8, United Torah Judaism with 7, Yisrael Beiteinu with 7, Shas with 7, Otzma Yehudit with 7, Ra'am with 8, and Religious Zionism and Identity with 6. The Reservists-Economic party is currently not passing the electoral threshold.

Both blocs have begun discussing their next steps towards the Knesset's swearing-in and government formation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with his bloc partners Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, but has not yet contacted his Haredi partners Aryeh Deri and Yaakov Asher, who reportedly fear a "Zionist unity government." The change bloc has begun discussing the possibility of removing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana before the government is sworn in. The Joint List has declared its willingness to assist in forming an alternative government, stating, "We will work with all our might to end Netanyahu's rule." Meanwhile, MK Isaac Eisenkot stated, "We are focused on establishing a Zionist enlistment government."

The police have dismissed Likud's unprecedented accusations from the previous day that the elections were "stolen" by Arab parties. The police stated that election day passed with few unusual incidents concerning election integrity, even compared to previous elections, and that there is no investigative or intelligence support for Likud's claims.