Tel Aviv, Oct 30 Israel’s parliamentary election has left government formation uncertain, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc falling short of a majority and allegations of electoral fraud and foreign interference drawing pushback from election officials and the Shin Bet security agency.
Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc won 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s parliament, while the opposition bloc secured 48. The two Arab-led parties won the remaining 19 seats, according to the final tally published by the Central Elections Committee (CEC) early Friday.
The opposition bloc comprises Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party with 21 seats, Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party with 12, Yair Golan’s Democrats with eight and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu with seven.
The Arab-led Ra’am and Joint List parties won 11 and eight seats, respectively.
Turnout in Tuesday’s election was 77.9 per cent, the highest in decades, with 5,716,665 votes cast, the CEC said.
The results are to be presented to President Isaac Herzog on November 4, after the committee completes any final inquiries into errors or complaints. Herzog will then meet party leaders, who will recommend the lawmaker they believe should be tasked with forming the next government.
Netanyahu’s bloc is eight seats short of the 61 needed for a parliamentary majority. His refusal to cooperate with the Arab-led parties further complicates the formation of a government.
The election outcome has also been clouded by allegations of electoral fraud and foreign interference levelled by Netanyahu and his Likud party, which has claimed that the vote was “stolen” and sought investigations into alleged bribery, threats, violence and multiple voting.
However, acting CEC Director General Dean Livne rejected claims of systematic violations, saying the election had been conducted lawfully.
“The Knesset elections were conducted lawfully. The integrity of the elections at polling stations was rigorously safeguarded, and to the best of our knowledge, there is no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity,” Livne wrote in a letter to Yesh Atid lawmaker Vladimir Beliak, a member of the CEC.
In an interview with Channel 12 News, Livne said he did not believe allegations of foreign influence would affect the election results. Votes could be invalidated only if direct proof was found, he said.
In a statement issued after publishing the final results, the CEC reiterated that the investigation into suspected foreign interference would not affect the outcome. “Reports published throughout the day are entirely unfounded,” Livne said.
He also stressed that the investigation would not affect the final results submitted to the president and did not concern any particular sector of the population.
The Shin Bet said its investigation into suspected foreign interference was “limited in scope” and was based on its own intelligence collection, not information supplied by any political party or actor.
The agency also confirmed that its chief, David Zini, had met Netanyahu, Lapid and Eisenkot on Wednesday to brief them on the main suspicions under investigation.
The developments followed CEC chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg’s decision to formally ask Zini to investigate suspicions of improper influence through funding from foreign entities allegedly acting against Israeli interests. He requested the findings within a week.
The Shin Bet – Israel’s domestic intelligence and security agency, responsible for counterterrorism, counter-espionage and protecting the country’s internal security – has stressed that the investigation did not cast suspicion on an entire community that had voted legally and democratically.
Hebrew-language media reports said Likud suspected Qatar might have provided funds to organisations involved in mobilising Arab voters. Some reports also mentioned Turkiye as a possible source.
Qatar denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous and dangerous”, while Turkiye described claims of its involvement as “entirely baseless” and part of a disinformation campaign.
Police have also disputed Likud’s broader claim that the election was “stolen”.
A police source told Hebrew media outlets that election day had passed with “very few irregular incidents” concerning electoral integrity. There was no investigative or intelligence-based substantiation for claims that the vote had been stolen, the source said.
Likud had earlier said it was submitting “hundreds of testimonies” and other evidence to the police, Shin Bet and the CEC.
Its allegations included claims that cash was distributed alongside Ra’am ballot slips, that people voted twice and that the number of voters did not match the number of ballot envelopes.
Netanyahu’s opponents have accused him of using the allegations to delegitimise Arab voters and undermine the election outcome.
Eisenkot, 66, a former military chief and leader of Yashar, said he would do his utmost to form a “Zionist government” with national service for all. He also called on Netanyahu to step down, saying the outgoing coalition had lost the public’s trust.
By a “Zionist government”, Eisenkot was referring to a coalition of parties supporting Israel as a Jewish state.
Eisenkot backed an investigation into any foreign involvement but warned that it should not be used to delay the formation of the next government. He called for an “impartial, thorough, and immediate” probe, adding that an unfinished investigation must not be used “to undermine the official election results”.
Golan accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine the election through what he called an “ugly delegitimisation campaign” directed against the public and Arab voters in particular.
The Arab-led Joint List also accused Netanyahu of trying to “steal the election”, while Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas welcomed the investigation into possible foreign interference and said his party had no involvement in the case. He also accused the prime minister of incitement.
President Herzog described the situation as a “sensitive moment” and called for a full investigation, while cautioning against targeting an entire community. “We must not tarnish an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote and take an active part in democracy,” he said.
The president also urged party leaders to avoid another election.
Netanyahu, 77, said Israel needed a “strong, national, right-wing government” to address what he described as an existential threat from Iran.
He said the right-wing bloc had a “decisive majority among the Jewish public and all those who support the Jewish state”, and argued that forming a government dependent on Arab parties that “oppose our very existence” was unacceptable.
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have said they intend to form the next government.
Arab-led parties primarily represent Palestinian citizens of Israel, who account for about a fifth of the country’s population.
Their combined 19 seats could prove significant in government formation, although opposition parties remain divided over whether to include them in a coalition or seek their support from outside.
Eisenkot has indicated that he is open to cooperation with Arab-led parties, subject to conditions.
Ahmad Tibi, second on the Joint List, said the opposition had approached him about replacing the Knesset speaker and that his party would support the opposition’s candidate.
Arab-led parties could also influence parliamentary proceedings without joining a government, including through votes on the Knesset speaker and the legislative agenda.
Ra’am’s participation in the coalition formed in 2021 under then-prime minister Naftali Bennett and Lapid marked the first time an Arab party became part of an Israeli governing coalition. That government collapsed in 2022, triggering another election.
The latest election was held four years after Israel went to the polls five times between 2019 and 2022, a period of prolonged political instability.
The Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on November 10, regardless of whether a new government has been formed.
(PTI News)
