On 28 October 2026, Israel concluded its parliamentary elections with no single party or bloc securing an outright majority, leaving a sprawling coalition exercise in progress. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right‑wing bloc remains projected at 53 seats, while a record 19 seats were allocated to Arab parties, the highest number ever recorded. Double‑envelope ballots will finish counting by Thursday, and the final tallies are due for publication on 4 November.
United Press International reported that Netanyahu’s bloc, which includes the Likud party and its allies, is forecast to win 53 of the 120 Knesset seats, a drop of 15 from the previous legislature. The opposition coalition headed by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is projected to secure 48 seats. Arab representation is set at 19, with 12 seats going to the Joint List and 7 to the Ra’am party, eclipsing the former record of 15 seats in 2020. The Central Elections Committee confirmed that nearly 5.7 million people out of 7.3 million eligible voters cast ballots, yielding a turnout of 77.7%, the highest since 1999.
Netanyahu told supporters that his right‑wing bloc “holds a decisive majority among the Jewish and Zionist public” and declared Likud the largest party in Israel.
“We must establish a strong, right‑wing, national government,” he said.Eisenkot posted on social media, “The preliminary poll results point to complete distrust in Netanyahu and the government of Oct. 7…If these are the final results, this is a victory for the statist‑Zionist majority in Israel.”
According to Xinhua, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange suffered significant losses as market participants reacted to the preliminary results. The TA‑35 index fell 1.81 percent, the TA‑125 dropped 2.46 percent, the TA‑90 slid 4.47 percent, and the TA‑Banks‑5 declined 4.85 percent. The Israeli shekel weakened 1.62 percent against the dollar, settling at 3.128 shekels per US dollar.
Gad Lior of Yedioth Ahronoth said the sell‑off was driven by political uncertainty and fears that a future Netanyahu‑led government could again struggle to tackle economic challenges, including a high cost of living. He added that concerns about a renewed war with Iran also weighed on investors.
“We fear that another Netanyahu‑led government might again struggle to address economic challenges, particularly the high cost of living,” Lior said.Joseph Freiman, CEO of Prico, explained that the shift reversed earlier gains as vote counting turned in Netanyahu’s favor:
“Most projections during the election day favored the opposition, but as vote counting progressed, Netanyahu’s bloc gradually took the lead, triggering a reversal in currency market sentiment,” Freiman told Xinhua.
Al Jazeera reported different preliminary outcomes: the Likud‑led bloc had 54 seats and the opposition 49, both still shy of a 61‑seat majority, while the Arab‑dominated Ra’am and Joint List held 17 seats—enough to supply a majority to either side if they consented to join a coalition. The article noted that the final tally is expected on Friday with official results slated for 4 November, after which President Isaac Herzog will consult political parties and appoint a prime‑minister candidate with a 28‑day period to assemble a coalition, potentially extendable by 14 days. If no coalition succeeds, the Knesset could be dissolved, prompting another election while the current cabinet remains as caretaker.
Al Jazeera also highlighted that turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel was estimated at around 80 percent—above the 1999 figure—and analysts attributed the surge to perceived punitive measures by the Likud‑led government following the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 that triggered Israel’s war in Gaza.
Sources underscore that the election’s final seat distribution remains uncertain until the counting of double‑envelope ballots concludes, and that no clear pathway exists yet for either the Netanyahu or Eisenkot blocs to secure a governing majority without partnering with Arab parties or other smaller factions. The process to form a coalition, the possibility of another election, and the impact of political alignment on the economy and security remain unresolved.
