The Israeli Central Elections Committee said on Wednesday that it had counted more than five million votes as of 9pm local time (19:00 GMT). The results indicate that Netanyahu’s Likud party remains the largest political force, but the prime minister faces a challenging path to securing a parliamentary majority.
According to the preliminary results, Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, received 1,085,162 votes, accounting for 20.65 percent of the total and translating into an estimated 26 seats.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party secured 849,121 votes, or 16.16 percent, with an estimated 21 seats. The Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen, received 480,551 votes, representing 9.14 percent and an estimated 12 seats.
Naftali Bennett’s Together party received 476,857 votes, or 9.07 percent, securing an estimated 12 seats. Yair Golan’s Democrats received 340,562 votes, accounting for 6.48 percent and an estimated eight seats.
Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am party secured 320,288 votes, or 6.09 percent, with an estimated eight seats. Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu received 311,728 votes, representing 5.93 percent and an estimated seven seats.
Yaakov Asher’s United Torah Judaism received 293,990 votes, or 5.59 percent, translating into an estimated seven seats. Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit secured 292,985 votes, representing 5.58 percent and an estimated seven seats.
Aryeh Deri’s Shas party received 277,689 votes, or 5.28 percent, with an estimated six seats. Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party secured 250,996 votes, representing 4.78 percent and an estimated six seats.
Other parties collectively received 275,205 votes, accounting for 5.25 percent of the total.
More than 500,000 special double-envelope ballots remain to be counted, potentially changing the distribution of seats. These ballots include votes cast by soldiers, diplomats and others who voted away from their registered polling stations.
The election, the first since the October 7, 2023, attacks and the Gaza genocide, was widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s premiership. The 77-year-old prime minister appears far from defeated despite failing to secure a clear parliamentary majority.
Netanyahu will continue as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. President Isaac Herzog is expected to begin consultations with party leaders next week to determine who will form the next administration, once the official election results are released.
Herzog has urged political parties to avoid another election that could delay the formation of a government. Coalition-building remains the norm in Israel, where no party has ever secured an outright parliamentary majority in the country’s history.
With Netanyahu’s bloc projected to emerge as the largest, analysts predict that he could form a unity government that includes Eisenkot. However, the possibility remains uncertain as the opposition has called for political change.
Eisenkot said in a post on X on Wednesday that his opposition alliance was now focused on the “heavy task entrusted to us – bringing change to Israel and establishing a Zionist mobilisation government”.
“This is the will of the people who expressed no confidence in the government of October 7th and the shirking, and in the bloc of shirkers in general. A bloc that is at the low point of two decades.”
The election has also brought renewed attention to Arab voter participation, which reached a record turnout.
Netanyahu’s Likud party accused Arab parties of stealing the election, alleging serious irregularities in several polling stations.
“The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offences of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilise voters,” the party said in a statement.
“The Likud party is transferring to the police, the Shin Bet, and the Central Elections Committee hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations,” it said.
Israel’s predominantly Arab Joint List political alliance said preliminary figures indicated that Arab voter turnout had played a decisive role in preventing Netanyahu and his coalition from securing a parliamentary majority. However, the alliance cautioned that the final results had yet to be announced.
In a statement published late on Wednesday by Turkish news agency Anadolu, the Joint List said voters had responded to incitement and intimidation at the ballot box.
The alliance rejected a “government of butchers” and its policies of home demolitions, racism and war crimes.
The Joint List said its electoral support reflected demands for political unity and the formation of a force capable of defending the rights of Arab citizens without making concessions.
It pledged to work towards removing Netanyahu’s government and preventing its return, saying it was prepared to cooperate in efforts to establish an alternative government.
Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said the alliance could support an anti-Netanyahu government from outside but would not join it.
The final results, including the special double-envelope ballots, are expected to determine whether Netanyahu can secure the parliamentary support needed to remain in power or whether opposition parties can build an alternative coalition. With both major blocs short of the required 61 seats, the election has left Israel facing another round of coalition negotiations.
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