Israel’s Final Election Results Set November 4 Handover to Herzog as No Bloc Reaches a Majority

The final count

Israel’s Central Elections Committee released final results on Friday morning showing no bloc with a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc won 53 seats, the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party won 48, and Arab factions won the remaining 19 seats. A bloc needs 61 seats to form a government.

Likud finished as the largest single party with 27 seats, followed by Yashar with 21 and Together with 12. The Joint List won 11 seats, the Democrats and Ra’am eight each, Yisrael Beiteinu, United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit seven each, and Shas and Religious Zionism six each. The committee said 5,716,665 ballots were cast, for a final turnout of 77.9 percent, with 5,690,778 valid ballots and 25,887 invalid. The electoral threshold of 3.25 percent was 184,947 votes, and all other parties failed to cross it.

Netanyahu’s bloc is down from the 68 seats its parties held in the outgoing Knesset, according to The Times of Israel. After the vote, Netanyahu told supporters that Likud was the largest party in Israel and called for a strong national right-wing government. Eisenkot has also said he will do everything he can to form a government.

What happens next

The official results are scheduled to be submitted to President Isaac Herzog on November 4, after the committee completes final checks for errors or complaints. Herzog will then hold consultations with the leaders of the elected parties, who will recommend their preferred candidate to form the next government. The newly elected Knesset is set to be sworn in on November 10. Reports say efforts to form a government could extend beyond two months, with neither camp close to the 61 seats required.

The final count was announced as Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, continued an investigation into suspected foreign interference in the election. Acting Central Elections Committee Director General Dean Livne said the investigation would not affect the final results submitted to the president and did not concern any particular sector of the population. The Shin Bet described the inquiry as focused and limited.

Netanyahu’s camp has accused Arab parties of election fraud, including claims of foreign funding to influence the vote. The Arab lists and Qatar have rejected those claims. On Wednesday, Herzog urged party leaders to do everything they could to avoid another election and to approach government formation talks with an open mind. The election on Tuesday was the first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Reporting based on coverage by IANS, the New York Post and The Times of Israel.