Vote in Israel
All votes counted: stalemate after election in Israel
Updated 10/29/2026 – 11:53 p.mReading time: 1 min.
After all votes have been counted, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s camp is in the lead, but like the opposition, it falls short of a majority. A difficult government formation lies ahead.
After all votes have been counted in the parliamentary election Israel both the governing coalition Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition camp failed to achieve an absolute majority. Israel’s Central Election Commission announced this last night. According to the preliminary official final result, the previous coalition of right-wing, right-wing extremist and religious parties has 53 seats in parliament (2022: 64 seats). For a majority, 61 seats would be needed.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-wing conservative Likud party will lose five seats, but remains the strongest party in parliament (Knesset) with 27 seats. According to the information, the center party Jashar, newly founded by Eisenkot, emerged from the election as the second strongest force with 21 seats. The opposition alliance therefore has a total of 48 mandates.
The result leads to a stalemate in parliament – and to difficult formation of a government.
Opposition dependent on support from Arab parties
In order to achieve a majority of 61 seats, Eisenkot’s opposition camp would mathematically have to rely on the support of the predominantly Arab parties. With a total of 19 mandates, they achieved a historically good result (2022: 10 seats).
However, there are reservations within the opposition about cooperation with Arab representatives. Eisenkot ties the formation of a government to strict conditions. Potential partners must therefore sign a commitment to the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel, recognize a general duty of service and classify the Islamist Hamas as a terrorist organization.
