Israeli Election Ends in Deadlock, Leaving Netanyahu and Rival Both Short of a Majority

Israel's Central Elections Committee has certified the results of the country's Oct. 27 parliamentary election, confirming that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his chief rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, won enough seats to govern alone. The outcome leaves a bloc of Arab-led parties holding an unusual degree of leverage over who forms Israel's next government, at a moment when the country is still absorbing the aftermath of the Gaza war and its relationship with European partners is strained.

The vote was the first national election since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the war that followed. Turnout was roughly 78 percent of eligible voters, the highest since 1999, according to figures reported by the Central Elections Committee. More than 5.7 million ballots were cast. Final, certified results are due to be formally handed to President Isaac Herzog on Nov. 4, and the new, 26th Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on Nov. 10.

A 53-48-19 Split

Under the certified count, Netanyahu's bloc of five parties — Likud, Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism, Shas and Religious Zionism-Zehut — won 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, according to NBC News and other outlets that reviewed the committee's figures. The bloc aligned with Eisenkot, built around his new Yashar party, former prime minister Naftali Bennett's Together party, Yisrael Beiteinu and the Democrats, took 48 seats. Neither reached the 61-seat threshold required for a governing majority.

Likud remains the single largest party, with 27 seats, down from 32 in the outgoing Knesset. Eisenkot's Yashar, contesting its first election, took 21. Two Arab-led parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, won a combined 19 seats — their strongest showing in Israeli history, and enough on their own to tip the balance toward either camp. A handful of smaller lists, including the Reservists and Economic party and the ultra-Orthodox Charedi Public list, fell short of the 3.25 percent threshold needed to enter parliament, a bar set out in the Knesset's own rules on how seats are allocated under the country's proportional-representation system. A government document listing each party's registered campaign spokespeople, filed with the Government Press Office ahead of the vote, shows just how crowded the field was: more than a dozen lists qualified to run, most of which never crossed the threshold.

A Vote Forced by a Coalition Collapse

The election was not Netanyahu's choice. His government fell apart in July, when the previous Knesset voted 62-0 to dissolve itself after ultra-Orthodox parties accused the prime minister of failing to preserve military-service exemptions for yeshiva students, an issue that has repeatedly destabilized Israeli coalitions.

The campaign itself was fought largely over the legacy of the Gaza war and whether Netanyahu's government bears responsibility for the security failures of Oct. 7, 2023. Thousands of Israelis, many of them relatives of hostages held in Gaza, rallied in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square days before the vote to demand an independent inquiry into those failures, a demand the government has so far declined to meet. Far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, both in Netanyahu's bloc, held their ground in the new Knesset; Smotrich has pledged to keep expanding Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, which most of the international community considers illegal under international law.

Arab Parties as Kingmakers

The 19 seats won by the Joint List and Ra'am now sit outside both blocs' stated plans, since Netanyahu and Eisenkot have each separately ruled out governing with Arab-led parties. That leaves both men searching for a majority they may not be able to assemble without them, or without each other. Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said his party was ready for "political cooperation to oust the Netanyahu government," while Ra'am's Mansour Abbas said he had been in contact with representatives of both camps. Yair Golan, who leads the Democrats inside Eisenkot's bloc, called for a government formed "in partnership" with Arab-led parties, a position Eisenkot himself has not endorsed.

Netanyahu has argued that any coalition resting on Arab-party support would be illegitimate, telling supporters in a post-election address that it would be wrong to "endanger Israel" by relying on parties he described as opposed to the state's existence — a characterization Arab lawmakers reject. Eisenkot, for his part, has said Netanyahu "cannot serve as prime minister, minister or deputy minister" in any government he leads, ruling out the unity arrangement President Herzog has reportedly floated as a way to avoid a third election in recent years.

Fraud Claims, and a Cautious Welcome From Europe

The count was not without controversy. Netanyahu's coalition alleged foreign interference in the election, pointing to Qatar and referring Arab-party figures to the Shin Bet security service for investigation; Qatar has denied any role. Dean Livne, the Central Elections Committee's acting director general, pushed back directly, saying there was "no basis for allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity," according to NBC News. Israeli police said they would investigate any credible, specific complaints, and opposition leaders accused Netanyahu of trying to delegitimize a result he did not like.

"There is no basis for allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity," Dean Livne, the Central Elections Committee's acting director general, said of the vote count.

The European Union, by contrast, offered measured congratulations. A spokesperson for the European Commission's foreign affairs arm said the bloc "congratulates the Israeli people" on a high-turnout vote and looks forward to working with whatever government emerges, pledging continued "frank and open dialogue," according to Brussels Times's account of the statement. The carefully worded response reflects months of friction between Brussels and Jerusalem over the conduct of the Gaza war and settlement policy, tensions the election result is unlikely to resolve either way. Washington, Israel's closest ally, had issued no formal statement on the certified results as of Sunday, though Trump and Netanyahu have spoken by phone since the vote, according to the Times of Israel's rolling coverage of the race.

What Happens Next

Once the certified results reach him on Nov. 4, Herzog is required to consult with every faction elected to the new Knesset before formally asking one candidate — not necessarily the leader of the largest party — to try to form a government. Al Jazeera's review of the process notes that whoever Herzog taps will have up to 42 days to secure a majority, an extension that is sometimes available if needed. If that attempt fails, Herzog can hand the mandate to a second candidate; if that also fails, Israel would be forced into another election, its fourth stretch of national voting in four years, while Netanyahu would remain as caretaker prime minister throughout any interim period.

For now, the arithmetic leaves few comfortable options: a Netanyahu-led government would need either Arab-party support he has refused, or defections he cannot currently count on; an Eisenkot-led alternative faces the identical problem in reverse. A formal Netanyahu-Eisenkot unity government remains, on paper, the simplest path to the 61 seats either man needs — and the one both have publicly rejected. The Knesset is due to convene for the first time on Nov. 10 regardless of whether a government is ready to be sworn in with it.