Close race in Israel
Netanyahu will probably miss a majority
Updated 10/28/2026 – 2:34 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
According to forecasts, Netanyahu is slightly ahead in Israel. Both he and his opponent Gadi Eisenkot want to try to form a government.
In the parliamentary election in Israel A stalemate is emerging after the polls close on Tuesday. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main challenger Gadi Eisenkot can expect a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, according to voter surveys carried out by major television channels.
After 85.6 percent of the votes were counted, Netanyahu’s Likud party got 26 seats and Eisenkot’s Jashar party got 21 seats. The Netanyahu bloc would therefore have 53 seats, the opposition 48 seats. The Arab parties have 19 seats. 61 seats are needed for an absolute majority in the Knesset. So there is initially no clear winner. The final result is expected this morning.
- After the election: Israel’s path to a new government
- Secret winners: Two men could decide Netanyahu’s future
The Arab parties recorded significant gains. The Islamic-conservative Raam Party would get seven seats, the left-wing United List would get twelve seats. Arab parties could help a governing coalition gain a majority in parliament.
Netanyahu wants to form a government without Arab parties
Gadi Eisenkot said on Tuesday evening that he wanted to act “immediately” to “replace” Netanyahu’s government in accordance with the will of the people: “I will establish a Zionist government as quickly as possible.” The people of Israel have “chosen for change,” Eisenkot said in a speech to his supporters early on Wednesday morning Tel Aviv. He warned incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to “abuse Israel’s security for your political purposes.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared confident of victory despite the narrow outcome of the landmark parliamentary election. His right-wing conservative Likud party is “the largest party in Israel” and the right-wing camp has a clear majority within the Jewish population, he told supporters on Wednesday night. The head of government, who was accompanied by his wife Sara, appeared to be in a good mood, clapped his hands and thanked his supporters. He called for the formation of a strong right-wing government.
“We must not form a government that is based on Arab, anti-Zionist parties,” said the 77-year-old. He accused the Arab parties of opposing the existence of Israel, calling the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas a charity and denigrating Israeli soldiers as war criminals.
After the first forecasts for the parliamentary elections in Israel, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected the opposition’s celebrations as premature. “The jubilation of the left is premature. The complacency of the biased commentators – ridiculous,” Saar wrote on the online service X on Tuesday evening. The politician from the New Hope party added: “One thing seems pretty clear: the Likud is the largest party in Israel.” Saar also published recordings of the Likud’s first election victory in 1977.
