Israel’s Tuesday election has produced no clear winner. With 66 per cent of ballots counted, Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc had 54 of the 120 Knesset seats, short of a majority, and both he and opposition leader Eisenkot have pledged to form a government, according to Dawn. The partial results are likely to change as more ballots are counted.
According to Dawn, Eisenkot’s opposition bloc had 48 seats and Arab parties had 18 in the partial count. Exit polls showed Netanyahu’s camp and Eisenkot’s bloc at about 51 seats each, and neither was projected to win a majority. Dawn reported that turnout was nearly 78 per cent, the highest since 1999.
Arab Israeli parties made the strongest gains, according to Dawn. Exit polls had projected 18 or 19 seats for Israeli Arab lists. Yair Golan, head of the main left-wing party in Eisenkot’s camp, called for a government that includes Israel’s Arab citizens. Eisenkot had said during the campaign that he would not govern with Arab lawmakers, Dawn reported.
Euronews reported that, according to former government spokesman Eylon Levy, Israel faces three possible outcomes: a unity government, a minority administration, or fresh elections. Euronews also reported that Mansour Abbas of the Arab Ra’am party has declined to describe Hamas explicitly as a terrorist organisation, which Levy cited as an obstacle to cooperation.
Netanyahu is Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and has governed on and off for nearly two decades. He remains caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. Eisenkot is a former military chief and a political novice. He backed the Gaza offensive but has vowed to repair Israel’s international standing and rein in violent West Bank settlers.
Coalition talks could take weeks, and new elections are possible if they fail. Netanyahu will stay in a caretaker role in the meantime. Full official results were expected by Thursday evening or Friday morning, Dawn said.
The main gaps are that the key vote figures rest on Dawn, with no second source confirming the partial seat totals or exit poll numbers. France 24 was available only as a short excerpt with no vote detail beyond exit polls. Euronews’s account relies on a single analyst, and it reports no response from Netanyahu, Eisenkot or the Arab parties.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.