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Earlier on this story26 Oct: Exit Polls Show Gadi Eisenkot Bloc Leading Netanyahu, Neither Reaches Knesset Majority3 more

Israeli Politicsupdated 25m ago3 min read

Israel Election Deadlock Leaves Netanyahu Bloc Short as Arab Parties Projected at Record 19 Seats

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Netanyahu-led bloc remains short of 61-seat majority after most votes counted. Arab parties projected to win a record 19 seats, potentially kingmakers.

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Deadlock After Vote Count

Israel’s election produced no clear winner as nearly 90 percent of ballots were counted, leaving both major blocs short of the 61 seats needed to form a government. The Israeli Central Elections Committee said it had counted more than five million votes as of 9pm local time, and it put Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc on course for 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition bloc was expected to secure 48 seats, while the Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, were projected to hold a record combined 19 seats.

President Isaac Herzog began consulting party leaders about forming a new administration next week once official election results are released, and Netanyahu remained caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. Eisenkot ruled out forming a minority government with Arab-led parties, and Netanyahu rejected such a prospect as coalition building remained the norm in Israel.

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraAl-Jazira Net

Accusations and Arab Turnout

Netanyahu’s Likud party accused Arab parties of stealing the election, and it said, "The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties" that it linked to terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state. The Joint List denied the claims and said preliminary figures showed Arab voter turnout played a decisive role in keeping Netanyahu and his coalition short of a parliamentary majority, while warning that final results were not yet announced. Yousef Jabareen said the alliance could back an anti-Netanyahu government from outside but would not join it, and he framed the Joint List’s support as demands for political unity and a force capable of defending Arab citizens’ rights without concessions.

Labour Minister Tahmina Akhter was not part of this election coverage, but the political dispute over Arab participation echoed across outlets, with CNN describing record turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel as potentially dictating election results. CNN also said Palestinian citizens of Israel were roughly 20 percent of the country’s population and were driven by an urgent desire to topple Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, while a majority of Jewish voters opposed partnering with Arab parties.

Reporting for this sectionAl JazeeraCNN

What Comes Next

The election deadlock left coalition negotiations as the central immediate task, and Al-Jazira Net said it did not appear that either bloc had a clear path to form a new government. Al-Jazira Net linked the uncertainty to U.S. calculations, saying the result could affect the course of the war with Iran and efforts to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, while it described Trump as facing a mystery over the identity of the next Israeli prime minister. Trump told Axios that he hadn’t thought about intervening yet, adding, "I will look into it," and Al-Jazira Net said Israeli Channel 12 reported a U.S. official saying Trump might wait for negotiations to clarify before inviting Netanyahu and Eizenkot to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Eizenkot focused on military considerations and pledged to distance himself from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition allies, while he opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state and called for the destruction of Hamas’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Al-Jazira Net also said continued hardline Israeli policies could open the door to increased pressure from Democrats in the United States to curb U.S. aid to Israel, and it described Reuters reporting that American officials were frustrated with Netanyahu’s insistence on disarmament of Hamas first.

Reporting for this sectionAl-Jazira Net