JERUSALEM, October 28 (Aalimi Nation) – Israel's parliamentary election has ended in an apparent deadlock, with exit polls on Tuesday night showing neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc nor the opposition camp led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot within reach of the 61 seats needed to govern. The Israel election deadlock leaves unaligned Arab parties, projected to win 18 seats, as possible kingmakers.
Exit polls by Israeli television broadcasters put the two blocs level at about 51 seats each in the 120-seat Knesset, with Arab parties outside both camps projected to win 18 seats. Projections differed as the night went on: one later update gave Netanyahu's Likud-led alliance 52 seats against 49 for Eisenkot's bloc, while another outlook cited a narrow two-seat lead for Eisenkot. Broadcasters stressed these are projections, not counted votes.
Israel's Central Elections Committee said turnout reached 77.7 per cent, the highest in more than two decades and about seven percentage points above the 2022 election.
Rival claims of victory
Eisenkot, who heads the Yashar party, said the early numbers showed the public had voted against Netanyahu. "The Israeli public has voted against Netanyahu's service as Israel's prime minister," he said, adding that after such a high turnout "it would be a mistake to go to another election."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid went further, saying: "This is a total collapse and the public has told them to go home." Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, a Netanyahu ally, called the opposition's statements premature and said Likud remained the largest single party. Likud lawmaker Amichai Chikli urged supporters to wait, saying: "We need to be patient, to wait. It's too early to celebrate."
Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List, said his party would "transform the mandate we received into a new reality in the country." Faten Gattas, a Joint List candidate, said high turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel was aimed at keeping Netanyahu's nationalist coalition from returning, adding: "We refuse the occupation and racism, and we will remain here."
Eisenkot has all but ruled out governing with the non-aligned Arab parties, while Netanyahu has also kept them at a distance. That leaves both leaders short of a majority on current projections. Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, said the polls amounted to a major setback for Netanyahu's coalition but did not make Eisenkot a clear winner.
Background
This was the first national election since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023 and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. Netanyahu, 77, has been prime minister for nearly 19 of the past 30 years and faces long-running corruption charges, which he denies. Eisenkot, 66, lost a son and two nephews in the Gaza war and left Netanyahu's war cabinet eight months after joining it.
The final count is expected in the coming days, after which President Isaac Herzog is due to consult party leaders and ask one of them to try to form a government. Coalition talks could run for weeks, and Netanyahu may remain caretaker prime minister while they continue. If no coalition can be formed, Israel could face another election, an outcome Eisenkot has said he opposes.
