Israel Election Results: Netanyahu Bloc Leads as 93% of Votes Counted

As of Thursday morning, October 29, Israel's Central Election Committee reported that 92.7% of votes from the 26th Knesset elections had been counted, with results showing Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc securing 53 seats. Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc was projected to win 48 seats, and two Arab parties together were expected to gain 19 seats. This distribution remained consistent with earlier tallies, though one seat was reallocated between the Arab parties. The Likud party, led by Netanyahu, received the highest number of votes with 1,085,162 (20.65%), translating to 26 seats. National Unity, headed by Eisenkot, garnered 849,121 votes (16.16%) for 21 seats. The Joint List parties, including Yussef Jabarin, Ahmad Tibi, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, collectively received 480,551 votes (9.14%) for 12 seats. Other parties projected to enter the Knesset include Bayit Yehudi (Naftali Bennett) with 12 seats, Democratic Union (Yair Golan) with 8 seats, Ra'am (Mansour Abbas) with 7 seats, Yisrael Beiteinu (Avigdor Lieberman) with 7 seats, United Torah Judaism (Yaakov Asher) with 7 seats, Shas (Aryeh Deri) with 7 seats, and Otzma Yehudit (Itamar Ben-Gvir) with 7 seats. Religious Zionism and Zehut, led by Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin, were projected to win 6 seats. Parties such as Derech Eretz (Yoaz Hendel) and Calcalist (Yaron Zelicha), and Amcha Yisrael (Ofer Winter), were not expected to pass the 3.25% electoral threshold. The counting of votes from "double envelopes", cast by soldiers, individuals with disabilities, hospital patients, and prisoners, began early Thursday morning and is expected to conclude by Thursday evening. These votes could potentially alter the seat distribution. The final official results are due by November 4, 2026.