Once all the votes are counted, Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats, Eisenkot’s 48 and the Arab parties 19.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) released the final results of the 2026 national elections early Friday morning.
The full official results are expected to be presented to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, once the CEC has completed final investigations into errors or complaints. Next, Herzog will meet with each party leader to make his recommendation for who he thinks should form the next government.
The final turnout was 77.9% of eligible voters – the highest figure in decades – with 5,716,665 votes cast.
Final results give Likud 27 seats, Yashar 21, B’Yachad 12, Joint List 11, Democrats 8, Ra’am 8, Yisrael Beytenu 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Otzma Yehudit 7, Shas 6 and Religious Zionism 6.
The Reservists-Economic party of Yoaz Hendel fell below the electoral threshold of 3.25% with 2.63% of the vote, just like the People of Israel of Ofer Winter who only received 1.7% of the vote. Charedi Public, a long-standing party that had offered an alternative vision to Israel’s ultra-Orthodox communities, was well below the threshold, with just 0.2 percent of the vote.
These results leave the pro-Netanyahu bloc with 53 seats, the anti-Netanyahu bloc with 48, and the Arab factions with 19. The pro-Netanyahu bloc parties, which make up the current government, held 68 seats in the outgoing Knesset, marking a significant decline.
The Arab parties – the Joint List and Raam – won an all-time high of 19 seats and almost double their current 10 seats. This would be more than enough to tip the anti-Netanyahu bloc towards a comfortable majority, if all members of the Zionist bloc, except the Democrats, had not ruled out cooperating with Raam or the Joint List.
In its statement early Friday morning, the CEC reiterated comments made earlier Thursday by acting director Dean Livne, rejecting allegations of widespread electoral fraud amid reports of a possible Qatari campaign to influence the vote.
“The information published throughout the day is completely unfounded,” Livne said, emphasizing that the investigation “will not affect the final results submitted to the president and will not concern any particular sector of the population.”
The Knesset is expected to be sworn in on Nov. 10, regardless of efforts to form the next government, which are expected to be bumpy and could last more than two months, with neither side coming close to the required majority of 61 seats.
On Wednesday, Herzog urged party leaders to do everything possible to avoid another round of elections: “We must do everything we can, especially after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections. So I expect everyone who comes here to come with an open mind,” he said.
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have promised they will form the next government.
Tuesday’s elections came four years after the end of a three-year period in which Israel went to the polls five times, the first four failing to produce stable governments.
Gn world
