Netanyahu's Bloc Leads Israel's Count but Falls Short of a Majority; Arab Parties Headed for a Record 19 Seats
With 85 percent counted, Likud and its allies were on track for 53 of 120 seats and Gadi Eisenkot's bloc for 48. Up to 480,000 absentee ballots remain. Turnout was 77.7 percent, the highest in more than two decades.
Partial results from Israel's general election show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc leading but short of a parliamentary majority, the BBC reported Wednesday.
With 85 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu's Likud and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox allies were on track for 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, eight short of the 61 needed to govern. Former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties in his bloc were set for 48. Arab-led parties were on course for an unprecedented 19 seats, which could make them kingmakers, though all but one of the Jewish parties have pledged not to work with them.
The count is not finished. Between 430,000 and 480,000 absentee ballots, from soldiers, diplomats, hospital patients and others, remained to be counted, and final results could take a day or two. Netanyahu's bloc did better than the exit polls predicted, but 53 seats is 15 fewer than it had once controlled in the outgoing Knesset, the BBC reported.
Both leaders claimed a mandate. Netanyahu told supporters in Jerusalem that his bloc had won a "great majority" and called for "a strong right-wing national government," adding, "It is forbidden, simply forbidden, to endanger Israel by forming a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties." Eisenkot said the public had "spoken in favour of change" and told supporters in Tel Aviv, "The coalition of failure has lost the people's trust."
President Isaac Herzog praised turnout of 77.7 percent, the highest in more than two decades, calling it "a badge of honour for Israeli society." He said he expects the official results next week, after which he will consult every faction and invite the leader he believes has the best chance to form a government, a process that could take weeks. "We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections," he said.
It was the first election since the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Key issues included accountability for the security failures before the attack, the conduct of the wars, conscription of ultra-Orthodox men, judicial changes and Israel's international standing. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, the BBC noted.
The result reached Cambridge within a day: Cambridge Day noted that Wednesday's Cambridge City Council vote on a pension divestment order coincided with news that neither bloc had won a majority.
Still to come: the absentee count, Herzog's consultations and whether either bloc can assemble 61 seats without the Arab-led parties.
