Israel Election Results: Netanyahu Bloc Leads Count but Falls Short of 61

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Key Points

  • As of 7:58 a.m. Israel time (1:58 a.m. ET) Wednesday, with about 57% of polling stations reporting, partial official results gave Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc 55 seats, the opposition bloc 49 and Arab-led parties 16.
  • Neither camp has the 61 seats needed for a Knesset majority. No winner has been declared, and the results are partial and not certified.
  • Netanyahu’s Likud leads the partial count with 27 seats, ahead of Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! with 21.
  • Turnout reached 77.7%, the highest since 1999, according to the Central Elections Committee.
  • Tuesday night’s TV exit polls first showed Eisenkot’s bloc narrowly ahead before shifting toward Netanyahu.

Israel election results were still unsettled on Wednesday morning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc led the official partial count, but neither he nor his main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, had the 61 seats needed to govern.

Roughly half of all votes had been counted. The picture has shifted since Tuesday night’s exit polls, and hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots, including soldiers’ votes, have not yet been added.

What happened

Polls closed at 10 p.m. Israel time on Tuesday, Oct. 27 (4 p.m. ET), in a vote for all 120 Knesset seats. Turnout reached 77.7%, the Central Elections Committee said, with nearly 5.7 million ballots cast out of about 7.3 million eligible voters. That is the highest rate since 1999, CNN and Israel National News reported.

Exit polls from Israel’s main TV channels are projections, not results. They initially gave Eisenkot’s bloc a narrow edge, Ynet and CNN reported. Later updates from Channels 11, 12 and 13 put Netanyahu’s bloc at 51 to 52 seats, tied with or slightly ahead of the opposition, according to CNN’s live coverage. None showed either side at 61.

Both leaders spoke overnight, and neither declared outright victory, CNN reported. Netanyahu said the results showed his right-wing bloc had the support of a “decisive majority among the Zionist and Jewish public,” and he rejected working with Arab parties to form a government.

“The public has voted for change,” Eisenkot said, according to CNN. Netanyahu, per Ynet, urged unity: “The Zionist majority must come to its senses and unite.”

Latest development

Where the official count stands

As of 7:58 a.m. Israel time (1:58 a.m. ET), partial results published by the Central Elections Committee gave Netanyahu’s bloc 55 seats, the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot 49, and the Arab-led Joint List and Ra’am 16, The Times of Israel and Ynet reported. The Times of Israel put the count at 57.3% of ballot boxes. Ynet’s results report said 57.2% of polling stations had reported, covering 51.5% of votes.

By party, Likud had 27 seats and Yashar! 21, Ynet and Israel National News reported. In Ynet’s breakdown of the 7:55 a.m. update, the Joint List had 12, Naftali Bennett’s Together 11, the Democrats and United Torah Judaism 9 each, Yisrael Beytenu 8, Shas 7, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism-Zehut 6 each, and Ra’am 4. Smaller parties’ totals have shifted by a seat between updates.

The numbers keep moving. About 15 minutes earlier, Netanyahu’s bloc stood at 56 and the Arab parties at 15, The Times of Israel, Ynet and Israel National News reported. Ynet said the latest shift came as Otzma Yehudit lost a seat to the Joint List.

The Reservists and Amcha Yisrael were below the 3.25% threshold to enter the Knesset, at about 2.6% and 1.7%, according to The Times of Israel and Israel National News. Ynet noted that some cities had not reported a single polling station as of 7:55 a.m.

Votes still to count

Double-envelope ballots, cast by soldiers, reservists, diplomats, hospital patients and others, are counted separately and later. The Times of Israel reported that the committee will begin counting them on Wednesday evening and that its acting director, Dean Livne, warned of possible delays. Ynet said officials had prepared for an estimated 600,000 to 650,000 such ballots.

Confirmed vs. still unknown

Confirmed: the 77.7% turnout, the time-stamped partial bloc totals above, and that no bloc is at 61 in the exit polls or the partial count.

Not yet known: the final seat totals, whether small parties near the threshold get in, who will be asked to form a government and what coalition, if any, can reach a majority.

Why it matters

For Washington, the result decides who leads Israel in its partnership with the Trump administration, including on Iran. President Donald Trump endorsed Netanyahu before the vote, as covered in our preview of the Israeli vote, and Netanyahu thanked him overnight for his support in the war with Iran, CNN reported.

Trump told reporters he had not yet spoken with Netanyahu. “I’m hearing that he did very well, and it’s pretty close,” he said, according to CNN. He also shared a Truth Social post crediting his endorsement with a shift toward Netanyahu, Ynet and The Times of Israel reported.

The Arab-led parties could also matter. Eisenkot has set conditions for coalition partners that most Arab lawmakers are unlikely to accept, CNN reported.

What happens next

Real results are expected late Wednesday or early Thursday Israel time, CNN reported, and official certification will take several more days. Ynet said the double-envelope count could run into Friday.

Once results are final, President Isaac Herzog will consult the parties elected to the Knesset and then ask one lawmaker to try to form a government, CNN and Ynet reported. That nominee would have four to six weeks to build a coalition, CNN said. If no one succeeds, Israel could face another election.

Related live coverage

Follow global developments on our World Breaking News Live center. For Washington reaction, including President Trump’s role in the race, see U.S. Politics Live. For live national news channels, visit the Watch Live hub.

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