Jerusalem, Oct 28 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc remained short of a parliamentary majority as partial results from the country’s general election showed it with 54 seats, against 48 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, with counting continuing on Wednesday.
According to Israeli media reports, 72.4 per cent of ballot boxes had been counted as of 10 am local time, with Netanyahu’s bloc projected to win 54 seats and Eisenkot’s bloc 48. Arab-led parties were projected to secure 18 seats.
The figures are provisional and could change as counting progresses.
A total of 61 seats are required for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.
Votes cast through double envelopes, including ballots by soldiers and other eligible voters unable to vote at their designated polling stations, are counted separately after checks to ensure that voters have not cast more than one ballot.
The partial count differed from exit polls released after voting ended on Tuesday, which generally projected a narrow lead for the opposition bloc but showed neither side close to a majority.
Three major broadcasters — Channel 13, Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan — had projected varying results, with the opposition bloc estimated to win around 51-53 seats and Netanyahu’s camp around 50-52. A separate i24NEWS exit poll had given Netanyahu’s bloc 55 seats against 49 for Eisenkot’s bloc.
Netanyahu’s Likud party appeared on course to emerge as the largest individual party, although the wider bloc supporting him remained short of a majority.
Three parties were below the electoral threshold of 3.25 per cent of valid votes in the partial count – Reservists, at 2.7 per cent; People of Israel, at 1.6 per cent; and Charedi Public, at 0.2 per cent. Their final vote shares could change as counting continues.
US President Donald Trump shared a statement on his Truth Social platform claiming that his endorsement had helped Netanyahu recover support during the election campaign.
“When President Trump endorsed Bibi Netanyahu, the whole tide turned, and now, rather than a decisive defeat for a Great Prime Minister, it looks like a big come-from-behind stalemate, or even a WIN for Netanyahu,” Trump wrote, sharing a statement signed by Irving C Schwartz.
The post did not establish that Trump’s endorsement had changed voting behaviour, and no independently verified information was available to establish Schwartz’s identity or credentials.
Netanyahu’s immediate challenge is to assemble a coalition that can command the support of at least 61 lawmakers.
The main opposition bloc also falls short of that number, while the Arab-led parties could play a significant role in government formation.
Netanyahu has opposed relying on Arab-led parties to form a government. Eisenkot has said Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties would have to meet his conditions on national service, Israel’s character as a Jewish and democratic state, and dismantling Hamas to join a government he leads.
The impasse has revived the possibility of a national unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot, but the idea faces resistance from opposition parties.
Likud ally Gideon Sa’ar had cautioned against treating the exit polls as a decisive opposition victory, pointing to projections that showed Likud emerging as the largest individual party.
Some analysts have suggested that Netanyahu could face difficulty assembling a viable majority and might wait to see whether an opposition-led government could be formed and sustained, rather than risk an unsuccessful attempt to form a coalition himself.
Israel’s political divisions have repeatedly produced electoral deadlock over the past decade. The country held five elections between April 2019 and November 2022 amid prolonged disputes over Netanyahu’s leadership and the composition of a governing coalition.
In the November 2022 election, the pro-Netanyahu bloc secured 64 seats, helped by the failure of two opposition-aligned parties, Meretz and Balad, to cross the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold.
Under Israel’s proportional representation system, voters elect closed party lists, with the entire country treated as a single constituency. Parties must secure at least 3.25 per cent of valid votes to win seats in the Knesset. Votes cast for parties that fail to cross the threshold do not translate into seats.
The current deadlock also revives memories of the power-sharing agreement reached in 2020 between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, a former Israeli defence minister and military chief who served as Israel Defence Forces chief of staff from 2011 to 2015 before entering politics.
Under the agreement, Gantz was due to succeed Netanyahu as prime minister under a rotation arrangement. The government collapsed before the planned transfer of power after it failed to pass a state budget within the required deadline, triggering early elections.
Critics had questioned Netanyahu’s commitment to the agreement from the outset, and its collapse deepened opposition leaders’ mistrust of him.
Official results are expected to be announced on November 4, according to Israeli media reports.
President Isaac Herzog will consult representatives of the elected parties before assigning a lawmaker the task of forming a government. The president generally selects the candidate considered best placed to secure parliamentary support, rather than being required to choose the leader of the largest party.
The first nominee has 28 days to form a government, with the president able to grant an extension of up to 14 days.
If the attempt fails, another lawmaker may be given an opportunity under the prescribed process. Failure to form a government could eventually lead to another election, with Netanyahu remaining prime minister in a caretaker capacity in the interim.
(PTI News)
