Israel Election Results: Netanyahu Bloc Nears Majority as 94% of Votes Counted

As of Thursday morning, October 29th, Israel's Central Election Committee has released updated preliminary results for the 26th Knesset elections, with approximately 93.8% of votes counted. The data, compiled from 12,161 polling stations, shows 5,344,198 votes processed, of which 5,320,404 are valid. Preliminary seat allocations indicate that parties aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc are projected to win 53 mandates, while four parties in Gadi Eisenkot's opposition agreement are set to secure 48 mandates. Two Arab parties together are expected to gain 19 mandates. This distribution remains consistent with the previous counting stage, which covered about 92.7% of votes, though one mandate has shifted between the Arab parties.

The current seat distribution projects the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, to receive 26 mandates. Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party is expected to get 21 mandates, followed by Naftali Bennett's Ba'ayehad with 12. The United List, including Yusuf Jabarin, Ahmad Tibi, and Sami Abu Shehadeh, is projected to win 11 seats, while Yair Golan's Democrats and Mansour Abbas's Ra'am are each slated for 8 mandates. Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu is expected to secure 7 mandates, as are Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit, Yaakov Asher's United Torah Judaism, and Aryeh Deri's Shas. Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin's Religious Zionism and Zehut parties are projected to win 6 mandates.

Two parties, 'Miluimnikim ve'Kalkalit' (led by Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelicha) and 'Amcha Israel' (led by Ofer Winter), are currently falling short of the 3.25% electoral threshold, with 2.66% and 1.63% of the vote respectively. Any change in their vote share after the remaining ballots are counted could alter the final seat distribution.

The bloc supporting outgoing coalition parties, including Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit, and Religious Zionism, collectively holds 53 mandates. The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, Ba'ayehad, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Democrats, has 48 mandates. The two Arab parties, the United List and Ra'am, together hold 19 mandates. With a total of 120 seats, neither of the two main blocs has reached the 61-seat majority required to form a government.

Turnout for the October 27th elections was 77.7%, with 5,695,682 people participating. The Central Election Committee began counting votes from 'double envelopes' on Thursday morning, which include ballots from soldiers, individuals with disabilities, hospital patients, prisoners, and diplomats. An estimated 430,000 to 480,000 such votes are being processed. The committee expects to release updated results throughout Thursday, with the final official results due by November 4th, 2026. The counting of these votes could potentially impact the final seat allocation and the balance of power between the political blocs.