Exit polls released by major Israeli TV stations right after polls closed on Tuesday night and revised overnight indicated that neither Netanyahu’s political bloc nor that of his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats needed for a majority in the parliament, known as the Knesset.
Israelis vote for parties, which then form alliances to create a majority coalition. No single party has ever won a majority.
Netanyahu was defiant early Wednesday as he seeks to remain the country's longest-serving prime minister. He dismissed the idea of partnering with Arab parties — whose constituents make up 20% of Israel’s population — as treasonous.
“We must establish a strong, right-wing, nationalist government,” Netanyahu said. “We must not endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties.”
However Eisenkot has left the door open to partnering with Arab parties under certain conditions, including their recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and of Hamas as an terrorist group.
With 70% of votes counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party has 20.6% and Eisenkot's Yashar party has 15.9%. The count from Israel’s Central Elections Committee does not indicate how many seats each will have in parliament, the 120-seat Knesset. Likud's share remained lower than in the previous election in 2022, when it was 23.4%.
Election turnout was at 77.7% of eligible voters, the highest since 1999. Final results are expected in the coming days, including from hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted from military personnel and diplomats.
If no one can put together a majority coalition, new elections could be held early next year. Israel held five elections between April 2019 and November 2022 because of a similar stalemate. Whether thousands of Israelis living abroad would again fly back home to vote, and whether Arab voters would again surge to the polls, is unclear.
