Israel’s 2026 general election appeared headed for a hung parliament, with partial results showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc leading but falling short of the 61 seats needed to control the 120-seat Knesset. With 85.6 per cent of ballot boxes counted, the Central Elections Committee put the pro-Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats against 48 for the opposition alliance led by Gadi Eisenkot, while the Arab-led Joint List and Ra’am together rose to 19 seats.
Turnout reached 77.7 per cent, the highest in more than two decades, but official counting was still under way, and coalition negotiations could stretch for weeks. Exit polls released by five broadcasters underscored the uncertainty: Kan 11, Channel 12 and Channel 13 placed the anti-Netanyahu bloc narrowly ahead with 52-53 seats to the Netanyahu camp’s 50, Channel 14 gave the Netanyahu bloc 60 seats — one short of a majority — and i24NEWS projected 55-49 in his favour. Likud was the largest single party in all five surveys, projected at 24-30 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s Yashar! at 19-23.
The seat numbers could still shift. Exit polls, which have a patchy record in close races, exclude the hundreds of thousands of ballots cast at special polling stations such as military bases, hospitals, prisons and embassies — votes that favoured Netanyahu and his allies in the last election, according to The New York Times. Local media reported that only 28 per cent of votes had been counted by around 5am in Tel Aviv. The latest projections gave Netanyahu’s camp 51-52 seats and the opposition 49-51, with Arab parties at 18-19, while three smaller parties — Reservists (2.7 per cent), People of Israel (1.6 per cent) and Charedi Public (0.2 per cent) — currently sat below the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold and risk losing their seats.
Once official totals are in, President Isaac Herzog will invite the leader he judges most likely to assemble a coalition. Eisenkot told supporters that “the public wants change” and warned Netanyahu against using his powers as caretaker prime minister, or Israel’s security, to shape the government talks. Netanyahu, whose party won more votes than any other, declared victory for Likud as the largest party and called for a “national right-wing government”.
The Arab parties’ projected record result could prove decisive, though Netanyahu has effectively ruled out partnering with them, and Eisenkot and his allies have also hesitated. Analysts are weighing a unity government between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, which would require the rivals to agree on who becomes prime minister, while Eisenkot has also floated the option of a minority government. Leaders of the Arab-led lists, meanwhile, accused Netanyahu of inciting hatred against Palestinian citizens of Israel to improve his chances of forming the next government.
Original Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/israel-election-results-2026-live-updates-knesset-netanyahu-gadi-eisenkot-seat-tally-exit-polls-10939966/
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Publish Date: 2026-10-29 06:17:00
