Israel’s Herzog accepts vote results, opens negotiations on forming government | Israel Elections 2026 News

Israeli President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections and began consultations with party leaders who will be responsible for forming the next government.

Wednesday’s moves dealt a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-member parliament while Arab-led parties made historic gains.

“The elections are over. Now it’s time to face reality,” Herzog said.

In the October 27 vote, neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor the bloc of his main rival, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats needed to govern. The prime minister’s coalition won 53, while Eisonkot got 48.

This leaves open the possibility of an alliance between the two men or an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab parties – Ra’am and the Joint List – which won a record 19 seats.

Herzog concluded the first day of consultations with party leaders on Wednesday evening and said talks would continue on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the president said he met with representatives of the Religious Zionism and Zehut, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu factions. He “received their recommendations regarding who should be given the task of forming the government in the Knesset,” Herzog said on X.

Three factions aligned with Netanyahu’s religious and nationalist base recommended that the prime minister be given a chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, supported Eisenkot.

Eight other parties, including the two Arab-led factions, are expected to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud the latest.

Raam supports Eizenkot

Eisenkot’s prospects improved when Ra’am, a major Arab-led party, said it would recommend him. This earned him the expected support of 56 MPs, according to the Israeli news site Ynet, which still lacks a majority.

The other Arab party, the Joint List, has not announced its position. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the party was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, supporting him if asked or abstaining if he preferred. Its 11 seats could push it beyond 61.

In contrast, Netanyahu’s 53-seat bloc may fall short of 53 support.

Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism’s seven seats, said it would not recommend either candidate. The ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu following his coalition’s failure to pass a law exempting Haredi men from military service, the Times of Israel reported.

Once the consultations are complete, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best suited to build a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his decision, after which the candidate will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible extension of 14 days.

If neither man succeeds, Israel would hold new elections early next year.

“No evidence of irregularities”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly made baseless claims that Arab-led parties “stole” the elections, possibly with foreign aid.

But Israel’s election commission said Wednesday it had conducted a thorough investigation into allegations of fraud by all parties and found “no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.

Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid new elections, saying they must accept that “not all commitments and promises can be kept.”

“In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges victorious,” he said.

He also supported the investigation into alleged interference but warned against vilification of Palestinian-Israeli voters, saying he had “great respect” for Israel’s Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population.

“I condemn the profanity and racist expressions we have heard recently,” he said.