Final Election Results Show Likud Leading with 27 Seats

The Central Elections Committee has released the final, official results for the 26th Knesset elections, following the completion of vote counting from external ballots and initial verification of regular polling station results. The Likud party secured 27 seats, followed by Yesh Atid with 21 and the National Unity party with 12. The Haredi parties collectively won 13 seats, with United Torah Judaism receiving seven and Shas obtaining six. These results are provisional, pending further election integrity checks and potential corrections during ongoing verification.

The committee confirmed that a Shin Bet investigation is running concurrently with its work and will not impact the final results to be submitted to the President next Wednesday. The distribution of the 120 Knesset seats is as follows: Likud 27, Yesh Atid 21, National Unity 12, the Joint List 11, the Democrats 8, Ra'am 8, Yisrael Beiteinu 7, Otzma Yehudit 7, United Torah Judaism 7, and Religious Zionism 6. Other lists did not pass the electoral threshold.

The overall voter turnout was 77.9%, with 5,716,665 votes counted, including 5,690,778 valid votes and 25,887 invalid ones. The electoral threshold requires 184,947 valid votes for a party to enter the Knesset.

In the coming days, the committee will continue its verification process, which involves re-examining polling stations, correcting errors, and reviewing public and candidate submissions. Minor adjustments may be made before the final results are presented to the President. Acting Director-General Dean Livneh addressed the Shin Bet investigation, initiated by committee chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg. Livneh stated that the Shin Bet chief presented classified intelligence to Sohlberg, leading to the investigation. Key details were also shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Yesh Atid Chairman Gadi Eisenkot, with Livneh emphasizing the highly restricted nature of the information and refuting unsubstantiated media reports.

Livneh clarified that the investigation is proceeding independently of the committee's verification process and will not affect the final election outcomes or target any specific sector. The findings will be submitted to the committee chairman upon completion, after which their scope and implications will be determined. The committee pledged to update the public promptly, within security constraints.