No Camp Wins Majority as Israel's Vote Count Grinds On
Seven Lights
Israel entered a prolonged vote count Wednesday with no camp holding the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving the country facing weeks of uncertainty over who will form a government.
Exit polls published by Israel’s major television networks shortly after polls closed at 10 p.m. local time Tuesday showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing bloc and the opposition grouping led by former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot tied at about 51 seats each, France 24 reported that some surveys gave the opposition a narrow edge. Turnout exceeded 77 percent of eligible voters, the central elections committee said, about seven percentage points higher than in 2022.
With nearly half the votes counted, official partial results projected Netanyahu’s camp at 56 seats, the opposition bloc at 49 and Arab-aligned parties at 15, Euronews reported. Arab parties, running on separate lists, could win as many as 18 seats, up from 10, the Guardian reported, a rise analysts said will redraw Israel’s political landscape.
The arithmetic favors neither side. Netanyahu’s camp, built on Likud and allied religious parties, is projected to win the most seats by a slight margin, but Israeli exit polls are frequently revised and do not capture absentee ballots. Opposition analysts noted that Likud’s strength is often underestimated. Even a solid opposition showing leaves Eisenkot without a clear path to a majority unless the Arab parties, which have historically stayed outside governing coalitions, sustain him from the outside.
Former government spokesman Eylon Levy said three outcomes remained possible: a Netanyahu-led coalition, an opposition government dependent on smaller parties, or a return to the polls. Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister in the interim. The New York Times reported that government formation could take weeks or months under Israel’s consultation process, in which the president tasks the leader best able to command a Knesset majority.
The count was set to continue through Wednesday. Neither camp declared victory, and the parties’ first moves are expected to be exploratory talks with small factions whose support could decide the next government.