Israel election final: Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats, Knesset sworn in Nov. 10
The elections committee has published final results: Likud has 27 seats, Arab parties a record 19. Shin Bet is probing suspected foreign influence, but the committee says the result will stand.
Archive image · Photo: Clema12 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Israel's Central Elections Committee has published the final results of the Oct. 27 parliamentary election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc 48. The Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, together won 19 seats, an all-time high. Likud remains the largest party with 27 seats, ahead of Eisenkot's Yashar with 21. Turnout was 77.9%, the highest in decades.
Neither camp is close to the 61-seat majority. The official results are to be presented to President Isaac Herzog on Nov. 4, after which he will consult party leaders. The new Knesset will be sworn in on Nov. 10 regardless of coalition talks, which could take more than two months. Herzog urged everyone to do all they can to avoid another election.
Netanyahu claims a foreign influence campaign "stole" the election. Committee chair Noam Sohlberg asked the Shin Bet security service to examine suspicions of foreign-funded influence. Acting committee director Dean Livne called reports of widespread fraud "entirely unfounded" and said the probe would not affect the results. Police also found no basis for the claims.