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Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc ahead of opposition as post-election vote count continues

JNS Staff

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, cast their ballots at a polling station in Jerusalem, Oct. 27, 2026. Credit: Prime Minister’s Office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc appeared to outperform most exit polls following Tuesday’s national election, pulling ahead of the opposition overnight, according to partial results published by Israel’s Central Elections Committee.

Netanyahu’s Likud party had 732,001 votes (21.45%) after 3,428,864 votes had been counted at 7,961 voting stations, the CEC said as of 9:16 a.m. on Wednesday.

Netanyahu’s bloc, which includes United Torah Judaism (216,021, 6.33%), Shas (194,069, 5.69%), Otzma Yehudit (193,414, 5.67%) and Religious Zionism-Zehut (165,003, 4.83%), had a collective 1,500,508 votes, or 43.96%.

Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar had 554,397 votes (16.24%). With his allies, B’Yachad (300,887, 8.82%), the Democrats (225,455, 6.61%) and Yisrael Beiteinu (209,101, 6.13%), he garnered a total of 1,289,840 votes, or 37.79%.

Based on partial results, Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc was projected to secure 56 seats, compared with 48 for the opposition and 16 for the Arab parties, though the figures remained subject to change, according to Israeli media.

While Netanyahu still lacked a clear path to the 61 seats needed to form a governing coalition, the partial results, if sustained, could put him in prime position to receive the first opportunity to form Israel’s next government.

Exit polls varied widely when polling stations closed at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, with Channel 14 projecting 30 Knesset seats for Likud, compared with 24 and 25 in projections by Channel 12 and Channel 13, respectively. Channel 14 projected 60 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, while other exit polls showed a stronger performance by the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot.

Channel 12’s exit poll had projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 52 for the opposition and 18 for the Arab parties, whereas Channel 13’s had projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 53 for the opposition and 17 for the Arab parties.

Exit polls are often revised as votes are counted, while surplus-vote agreements between parties can also affect final seat totals. The counting of double-envelope ballots—cast by soldiers, evacuees and other eligible voters voting outside their regular polling stations—is expected to continue into Thursday. The final tally is expected by Friday.

‘Likud is the largest party’

Netanyahu on Tuesday night hailed the results of the vote, saying it showed beyond any doubt that the “Likud is the largest party in Israel.”

“Do you remember how the propaganda channels manipulated public opinion? Likud—18 seats, 19 seats—they knew all along that it was a lie,” Netanyahu said, referring to surveys published by various Israeli news channels.

“They tried to discourage you, simply discourage you, from going to the polls. That’s what happened here. Well, the first thing that has become unequivocally clear is that Likud is the largest party in Israel. There is no disputing that,” he continued.

The second thing that has become clear, according to the premier, “is that the right-wing bloc has a clear, overwhelming majority among the Zionist public, among the Jewish public, and among all those who support a Jewish state.”

Netanyahu stated, “And that is why I said, and I say again, that we must establish a strong national right-wing government … We must not, absolutely must not, put Israel at risk by forming a government that relies on anti-Zionist parties—parties that oppose our very existence.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in an X post on Tuesday night that “the left’s celebration is premature.”

“The certainties of biased commentators are ludicrous,” Sa’ar, a Knesset candidate for the Likud Party, wrote in Hebrew.

“One thing is reasonably clear: Likud is the biggest party in Israel,” he added.

In his post, Sa’ar shared archival footage of Menachem Begin, Likud’s founder and its first prime minister. In it, Begin is seen urging patience with results on the eve of the party’s historic 1977 breakthrough election victory.

Meanwhile, Eisenkot claimed that initial exit polls amounted to “a complete vote of no confidence” in Netanyahu and his government.

“If these are the final results, this is a victory for Israel’s statist Zionist majority,” Eisenkot wrote on X in Hebrew.

He pledged to act immediately to carry out “the people’s decision,” replace Netanyahu and form a “Zionist conscription government” as soon as possible.

Next steps

Once the official results are published on Nov. 4, Israeli President Isaac Herzog will consult party leaders before tasking the lawmaker he believes is best positioned to form a government with doing so.

That need not be the leader of the largest party, meaning Netanyahu is not guaranteed the opportunity.

Although no Israeli government has ever been formed by a minority coalition immediately after an election, Eisenkot told Ynet on Oct. 10 that he would seek to lead one if he fell short of a parliamentary majority, necessarily relying on the tacit outside support of Arab parties.

The government-formation process follows a timetable set by law. The first candidate Herzog designates receives 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension, to form a coalition. If he or she is unsuccessful, the president can assign another candidate 28 days. If that attempt also fails—or the president determines there is no possibility of forming a government—a coalition of at least 61 MKs have 21 days to request that the president designate an alternative candidate. That candidate then has 14 days to form a government.

Failure to establish a government would trigger another election approximately 90 days later. Herzog has pledged to try to avoid that outcome, declaring: “I really, truly will do all I can so there won’t be repeat elections.”

Some 7.33 million Israelis were eligible to vote on Tuesday, according to Israeli Central Elections Committee figures dated Sept. 6. That is an increase of 543,177 since the previous election in 2022.

Some 330,000 young Israelis were eligible to vote for the first time.

A total of 12,018 regular polling stations opened nationwide at 7 a.m. and closed at 10 p.m.

Election Day in Israel is a national holiday, with schools, kindergartens and most workplaces expected to close. Voters choose party lists rather than directly electing a prime minister. Lists must receive at least 3.25% of valid votes to enter the Knesset.

Military voting began on Oct. 21 at Israel Defense Forces bases and outposts across operational arenas, including in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. Eligible Israeli diplomats serving abroad and their family members began voting on Oct. 15.

The vote for the 26th Knesset marked the Jewish state’s first general election since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

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