Israel Vote Leaves No Bloc With Power to Govern

JERUSALEM: Final tallies from Israel's parliamentary election are expected Thursday evening after counters process roughly 500,000 ballots cast by soldiers, diplomats, prisoners, hospital patients and other absentee voters. Those ballots are not projected to shift the seat distribution significantly.

Projections reported by local media on Thursday morning showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc holding 53 seats, opposition parties holding 48, and Arab-led parties holding 19. A Knesset majority requires 61 of the chamber's 120 seats. No bloc reached that number.

Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief and Netanyahu's main rival, addressed supporters early Wednesday and spoke of building a government that serves all citizens. He has previously said he would work with Arab-led parties to assemble a majority, though his post-election remarks did not name them. Eisenkot did not issue a further public statement Thursday.

The Joint List, one of the Arab-led parties, said late Wednesday it remained open to political cooperation. Small rallies took place overnight in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem backing a governing coalition that includes Arab-led parties. No Arab party joined an Israeli government before 2021, and that participation was brief.

Likud, which finished with the most votes, asked the election committee to investigate Arab-led parties for what it called election theft. The party supplied no specific evidence. The committee has reported a low number of irregularities in an election it described as relatively calm.

President Isaac Herzog will assign a party leader the task of forming a government next week. The president traditionally offers the role to the candidate whose party won the most seats, but that custom is not binding. Herzog said Wednesday he wants to avoid a repeat election, a position Eisenkot has also taken. Failure to assemble a coalition after several attempts would send Israel to the polls again in early 2027.

Arab citizens, who account for 20% of Israel's population, voted in numbers after some had previously declined to participate in a state where they say they face discrimination. Brosli Elias, a resident of Nazareth, said he hoped the next government would deliver rights for the community. "God willing, we will have something for us in the government, something that will bring us our rights," Elias said.

The vote took place amid disputes over military service exemptions for the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox population and over the war in Gaza. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, faces corruption allegations and accusations that he delayed Gaza deals, including ones to free hostages, for political gain. The Trump administration has discussed new strikes against Iran after the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections.