Israel’s 2026 Election Ends in Deadlock as Netanyahu’s bloc Falls Short of Majority and Arab Parties Surge to Kingmaker Role

Vote counting for Israel’s Knesset election is complete, with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc nor the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot securing the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member parliament.

Official tallies from the Central Elections Committee show Netanyahu’s camp with 53 seats and the opposition with 48, while Arab-led parties captured a record 19 seats.

The election, held on October 27, 2026—the first since the October 7, 2023 - was widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s long tenure.

Voter turnout reached approximately 77.7–77.9%, the highest in decades. Final official certification is expected by early November (around November 4–5), after which President Isaac Herzog will begin consultations with party leaders and task a candidate with forming a government. The new Knesset is due to be sworn in around November 10.

Election Results Table

Sources: Central Elections Committee figures reported by Times of Israel, Al Jazeera, Globes, and others.

Seats are based on the completed count (including double-envelope ballots) and remain subject to final verification.

Smaller parties such as the Reservists-Economic list fell below the 3.25% threshold.

Netanyahu’s bloc (Likud + ultra-Orthodox and far-right partners) dropped sharply from the 68 seats it held in the outgoing Knesset.

Shas recorded one of its weakest results in decades. The opposition—centered on Eisenkot’s Yashar, Bennett’s B’Yachad, Golan’s Democrats, and Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu—fell well short of a governing majority on its own.

The Critical Role of Arab Parties

The Joint List (11 seats) and Ra’am (8 seats) together secured 19 seats—nearly double their previous representation and an all-time high for Arab-led lists. This surge reflected significantly higher turnout among Palestinian citizens of Occupied Palestine, many of whom sought to push Netanyahu and far-right figures such as Ben-Gvir and Smotrich from power.

These 19 seats give the Arab parties genuine kingmaker potential. Adding them to the opposition’s 48 would produce a comfortable 67-seat anti-Netanyahu majority.

In practice, however, most Zionist opposition parties have ruled out formal coalition partnerships with either Ra’am or the Joint List (the latter includes more hardline components).

Only Democrats leader Yair Golan has publicly signaled openness to cooperation. Eisenkot himself has pledged not to form a government reliant on Arab parties.

This creates a classic Israeli political stalemate. Possible paths forward include:

Prolonged and difficult coalition negotiations that could stretch for weeks or months.

Attempts at a narrow or minority government.

A national-unity arrangement involving elements of both main blocs (with possible rotation of the premiership).

Reliance on Arab parties for external support or specific votes (for example, on replacing the Knesset speaker) without full coalition membership.

In the worst case, another round of elections if no viable government can be formed.

Netanyahu’s camp has amplified unsubstantiated claims that Arab parties “stole” the election, possibly with foreign assistance.

These allegations have been rejected by election officials and the opposition; the Central Elections Committee head referred “serious suspicions” to the Shin Bet for investigation but stressed that any probe would not alter the certified results.

Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of seeking to delegitimize the outcome for personal political survival.

The next phase centers on President Herzog’s consultations and the ability of party leaders to bridge deep ideological gaps.

With neither major bloc close to 61 seats on its own, the historic gains by Arab parties have transformed them from peripheral players into the decisive factor in whether Israel can form a stable government or faces yet another election cycle.