developing· Politics· Updated 13:08

Netanyahu Bloc Leads in Israeli Knesset Elections With Over 70% of Votes Counted

Preliminary results from Israel's 26th Knesset elections show Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc leading but falling short of a majority, with over 70% of the votes counted. The Likud party is the largest single party, securing 27 seats, while Netanyahu's overall bloc holds 54 seats. The opposing "change bloc" trails with 47 seats, and Arab parties have secured a historic 19 seats.

12 newsrooms · 4 languages · since 06:07

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Netanyahu Bloc Leads in Israeli Knesset Elections With Over 70% of Votes Counted — Illustration by baba

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What happened

01With over 70% of the votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc leads with 54 projected Knesset seats.
02The Likud party is the largest single party in the preliminary count, securing 27 seats.
03The opposing bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot, is projected to win 47 seats.
04Arab parties collectively secured a historic 19 seats amid high voter turnout.
05Neither major bloc currently holds the 61-seat majority required to form a government.
06Voter turnout in the election reached 77.7%, the highest recorded in Israel since 1999.
07Benjamin Netanyahu declared victory for the Likud and called for a strong right-wing nationalist government.

Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, whose National Unity party is in second place, initially called for Netanyahu to resign based on early exit polls that favored the opposition. However, as the vote counting progressed, the advantage shifted back to Netanyahu's bloc. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett also declared that Netanyahu had lost and that the current government should go.

Netanyahu declared victory for the Likud as the largest party and asserted that the right-wing bloc has a majority among the Zionist public. He called for the formation of a strong right-wing nationalist government and criticized the possibility of a government relying on Arab party support, calling it a disgrace. The final seat distribution remains uncertain, and forming a majority coalition of 61 Knesset members remains a challenge for both sides.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 11 newsrooms. Updated 11:56