Israel Election Results Leave Netanyahu Seven Seats Short

Updated October 28, 2026. Results snapshot: 13:00 Israel time.

Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud is leading Israel's election count, but his existing coalition partners are not delivering a majority. The latest projections give his bloc 54 seats, Gadi Eisenkot's main opposition bloc 49, and the Joint List and Ra'am another 17 between them. A majority in the 120 seat Knesset requires 61.

The immediate picture is a divided parliament. Netanyahu needs additional partners. His opponents have enough seats collectively to outnumber him, but turning those numbers into a government requires agreements they have yet to secure.

Nearly 5.7 million Israelis voted

The Central Elections Committee reported that 5,695,682 people had voted by the official closing time on Tuesday, October 27, out of 7,331,981 eligible voters. Turnout reached 77.7%, the highest recorded at polling station closing time since 2001.

That was approximately 7.1 percentage points above the equivalent figure in 2022. It remains a provisional turnout figure: voters already waiting when polling stations closed at 22:00 were allowed to cast their ballots afterward.

The heavy participation produced an inconclusive night. Reuters reported that updated exit polls from Kan and Channel 13 put the two main blocs level at 51 seats each. Channel 12 gave Netanyahu's bloc a narrow advantage. Netanyahu called for a strong national government of the right, while Eisenkot said voters had rejected Netanyahu's continued leadership. Neither had the numbers to settle the contest.

By 12:35 on Wednesday, Polimeter's tracker, drawing on committee data, reported 4,421,561 ballots counted. Ynet put progress at 77.6% of votes by 13:00, leaving roughly 22.4% outside the reported count.

How the parties and blocs currently stand

Ynet's latest seat calculation from the partial count gives the following distribution. These are provisional allocations based on the votes reported so far.

The bloc totals are 54 for Netanyahu's allies, 49 for the main opposition, and 17 for the Arab parties. The latter are shown separately because opposition to Netanyahu does not establish an agreement to govern together.

The Reservists list and People of Israel remained below the 3.25% electoral threshold, alongside other smaller lists, and were therefore outside the projected Knesset.

Can Netanyahu still form a government?

He still has possible routes, but the current count gives him no majority with his existing partners.

At 54 seats, Netanyahu needs seven more to reach 61. That means a substantial improvement during the remaining count, additional political partners, or an arrangement securing parliamentary support from outside his bloc. Leading the largest party does not automatically give him the premiership: the president consults parliamentary factions before assigning the task of forming a government.

Eisenkot faces a different obstacle. His main opposition grouping has 49 seats. Adding Ra'am's six would bring it to 55. Adding the Joint List's 11 as well would produce 66, comfortably above a majority, if those parties could agree on supporting a government.

The disagreement is political. Before the election, Bennett and Avigdor Liberman rejected reliance on Arab parties. Eisenkot left room for a minority government, while Democrats leader Yair Golan supported cooperation with Ra'am. Those differences now bear directly on whether the opposition can translate its combined strength into power.

A minority government could also depend on outside support or abstentions, rather than every supporting party joining the cabinet. That would still require a workable parliamentary arrangement.

The current arithmetic therefore points toward difficult negotiations.

The remaining ballots could move seats

More than half a million ballots cast in double envelopes were expected, according to Central Elections Committee official Elad Naveh. These include votes cast away from voters' assigned polling stations, notably by soldiers and reservists.

Counting was expected to begin Wednesday evening and continue into Thursday, potentially extending into Friday. The IDF separately reported turnout of 79.9% among service members.

These ballots enter the national total and can change party shares, threshold outcomes and seat allocations. Their effect depends on how the votes are distributed.

Even a completed count will leave the coalition negotiations ahead. Netanyahu's outgoing government continues serving until a new government takes office, so remaining prime minister during negotiations would not itself mean he had won a fresh governing mandate.