Israel election: exit polls show no bloc with a majority, Likud largest
Exit polls put the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot ahead of Netanyahu’s bloc, but both fall well short of 61 seats. Counting could last until Friday.
Archive image · Photo: Ronen Horesh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot is set to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset after Israel’s Oct. 27 election, according to exit polls. Projections by Channel 12, Channel 13 and Kan gave the opposition camp 52 to 53 seats and Netanyahu’s bloc 50. Likud would remain the largest party with 24 to 25 seats, ahead of Eisenkot’s Yashar with 21 to 23. Arab-led parties would win 17 to 18 seats. Broadcaster i24NEWS, by contrast, put Netanyahu’s bloc ahead, 55 to 49.
Turnout was 77.7%, the highest since 1999, the Central Elections Committee said. Eisenkot wrote on X: "The public has spoken, it has fired the Netanyahu government." Netanyahu said overnight that he was still waiting for "the true results." Exit polls can differ significantly from final results.
More than 650,000 double-envelope ballots are counted separately, a process election officials said could last until Friday morning. Official results are due on Nov. 4. President Isaac Herzog will then consult the factions and task a candidate with forming a government, who has up to 42 days to do so.