Israeli Politicsupdated 21m ago2 min read
Israel Election Results Certification Nears as Netanyahu Coalition and Eisenkot Deadlock
“while simultaneously considering the prime minister’s longstanding request for a pardon in his ongoing corruption trial.”
“President Isaac Herzog is stepping into the ring to launch formal consultations with party leaders, kicking off what promises to be weeks of brutal horse-trading.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Netanyahu's right-wing coalition has 53 seats, short of a majority amid deadlock. Formal consultations begin as President Herzog launches talks to form a government.
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Deadlock After Vote
Israel’s election results are due to be certified on Wednesday, but negotiations remain deadlocked because both leading blocs fell short of a parliamentary majority in the 120-strong Knesset. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition secured 53 seats in the October 27 vote, while the self-styled Zionist opposition alliance led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats. A majority requires 61 seats, and the 19 remaining seats went to the two Arab-led lists, the Joint List and Ra’am, or the United Arab List.
“A majority requires 61 seats in the 120-strong Knesset.”
Mitchell Barak told Al Jazeera that “Essentially, we’re both on track to a government, and nowhere near being able to form one,” describing how the arithmetic has not translated into a coalition. President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations with all the parties once results are certified, with one option being to ask the Arab parties to recommend Eisenkot.
Competing Legitimacy Claims
The Election Committee head, Supreme Court Judge Noah m Solberg, said the elections were conducted properly and that the results reflect the will of the voters, while stressing that suspicions of foreign interference would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process. Solberg said, “To say that the evidence currently before us could overturn the entire election results is not correct,” and he emphasized that voters expressed their views and their will will be respected. The Likud continued to doubt the outcome, and the party claimed a gap of 4,612 votes was the reason a seat would not move from Ra’am to the right bloc.
Gadi Eisenkot welcomed Solberg’s statements and accused the Likud of trying to strip legitimacy from the election results, writing on X that denying the results had “failed,” and that the results were “correct and clear.” The Shin Bet investigation remained ongoing, with Solberg saying most reports about it were false and that the investigation was still in a secret stage based on classified intelligence.
Who Can Form Government
Israel’s political consultations will determine the identity of the upcoming prime minister after the Knesset elections did not yield a parliamentary majority for either of the two main blocs to form a government on their own. The party Ma’al, led by Naftali Bennett, announced that it will recommend Eisenkot to form the government, while Beiteinu party head Avigdor Liberman said he would also recommend appointing Eisenkot but criticized the opposition bloc’s performance. Arab parties gained special significance because they collectively won 19 seats, giving them influence over the parliamentary balance of power and potentially preventing Netanyahu from returning to the premiership.
Imtansh Shihadeh, director of the Israel Studies Program at the Mada al-Carmel Center, said the election results showed that no bloc has the ability to form a new government without including parties from outside its ranks. Shihadeh added that Netanyahu cannot rely on Arab parties, leaving him constrained by his small number of seats, while he said Eisenkot’s position was relatively better because the opposition bloc obtained 48 seats and all opposition parties announced they would recommend appointing him.