- No majority. With nearly all votes counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc holds 53 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s holds 48 — both short of the 61-seat threshold needed to form a government in the 120-seat Knesset.
- Record turnout. 77.7% of eligible voters cast ballots — the highest participation rate since 1999 — suggesting Israelis treated the first election since the 2024 war as a referendum on leadership and reconstruction.
- Coalition arithmetic. The only credible path to 61 runs through Arab parties, which hold 19 seats, yet nearly all major Jewish-majority parties remain reluctant to rely on them in a formal coalition.
Israel held its first general election after the 2024 war on October 27, with results emerging through the night. Ynet News reported that with 85.6% of votes counted, Likud — led by Benjamin Netanyahu — won 26 seats, making it the largest single party, while Eisenkot’s Yashar! alliance took 21. Netanyahu’s combined bloc, which includes Beyachad (Naftali Bennett’s party, 12 seats), Shas, United Torah Judaism and smaller partners, reached 53 in total. Eisenkot’s bloc sat at 48.
The Numbers Behind the Deadlock
Arab parties took 19 seats in total: the Joint List secured 13 and Ra’am six. The Democrats won eight seats, and Yisrael Beytenu and Otzma Yehudit each won seven. Neither right nor centre-left bloc can form a majority coalition without Arab party support or a cross-bloc unity arrangement — neither of which either side has indicated willingness to accept.
More than 500,000 double-envelope ballots — cast by soldiers, diplomats and prisoners who voted outside their designated areas — remained uncounted as of Wednesday night. Analysts expect them to shift seat totals by one or two seats at most, without resolving the fundamental deadlock. Military turnout reached 79.9%, up 6.2 percentage points from the previous election, reflecting heightened political engagement among those who fought in the war.
What Happens Next
President Isaac Herzog will begin consulting party leaders once certified results are final, likely early next week, before granting a coalition mandate to whoever he judges most likely to succeed. Netanyahu holds the procedural advantage as leader of the largest party, but his bloc’s 53 seats fall eight short of a majority even with every natural ally included. Eisenkot’s best path to 61 requires Arab party participation — an arrangement The Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan has publicly endorsed, and the Joint List has said it is ready to support a government that removes Netanyahu.
One complicating constraint: Ynet reported that the Trump administration does not want far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir included in a new Netanyahu cabinet. That pressure would narrow Netanyahu’s coalition options considerably, since Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit holds seven seats that are part of his current count. The prospect of a hung parliament had been widely anticipated before the vote, given the fragmented state of Israeli politics since October 7.
A Changed Electorate
The 77.7% turnout — the highest since 1999 — points to an electorate energised by two years of conflict, an ongoing hostage crisis and deep divisions over reconstruction priorities. Whether that engagement resolves into a functioning government depends on coalition talks that Israeli history suggests could run for months. If no candidate secures a majority, Herzog can give a second leader a mandate; if that also fails, another election becomes legally possible.
Certified final results, including the complete double-envelope count, are expected by the end of next week, with formal coalition negotiations likely to begin shortly after.