Israel's Final Election Results: Netanyahu's Bloc Falls Short at 53 Seats, Arab Parties Hold the Balance With 19
Israel's Central Elections Committee released the final results of the October 27 election early on Friday, October 30, confirming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and lost its parliamentary majority, the Associated Press reported. The main opposition bloc won 48 seats, and Arab-led parties secured the other 19, a historic showing. Forming a government requires at least 61 seats, and neither bloc has them.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, remains in charge. Parties must now meet and bargain for weeks among partners with very different positions — from ultra-Orthodox Jewish to secular to Arab-led parties — to assemble a majority.
The results still need to be certified and submitted to President Isaac Herzog next Wednesday, November 4. Herzog will then task someone with forming the new government — possibly Netanyahu, as leader of the party that received the most votes, or whoever party leaders believe is best suited. If multiple attempts to form a government fail, Israel faces a new election early next year; Herzog said this week he will do everything in his power to avoid that scenario. The new Knesset is expected to be sworn in on November 10.
'Now comes the truly hard part,' centrist politician Yair Lapid said on X, asking Israelis for patience. The opposition faces difficult decisions: partner with the Arab-led parties it campaigned against Netanyahu alongside, or set aside its vows and team up with Netanyahu in a potentially fractious unity government. Even before a government is formed, Gadi Eisenkot's bloc could join forces with the Arab parties to elect a new Knesset speaker, gaining control of the parliamentary agenda; hundreds of Israelis have rallied urging Eisenkot and others to take that step, which has happened only once before, briefly, in 2021.
In his first public comment on Friday, Netanyahu posted on X asserting it is forbidden to form a coalition with Arab parties. In the hours before the final results were announced, Netanyahu and his Likud party had amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had 'stolen' the election, potentially with foreign assistance; Israeli media reported his party's members were accusing Qatar, which denied the allegations as 'ridiculous and dangerous.' Arabs make up about 20 percent of Israel's population.
Announcing the results, the election committee said the investigation into possible foreign interference was based on classified intelligence. Its acting director general, Dean Livne, warned that reports about the investigation had been 'entirely unfounded,' adding: 'It does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population.' The committee also said that 'allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity are baseless,' and it wants findings from the Shin Bet security agency within a week. The Shin Bet, seeking to calm tensions, said its investigation was not meant to 'cast aspersions' on an entire section of the population that had exercised its right to vote in a democratic and lawful manner.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Jerusalem 的以色列议会（Knesset）大楼（2022年资料图）。Clema12 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Knesset building in Jerusalem (file photo, 2022). Photo by Clema12, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-19Ahead of Next Week's Israeli Election, Polls Put Eisenkot's Bloc at 52 Seats to Netanyahu's 50; Arab Turnout Could Decide Who Governs
- 2026-10-19Hegseth Meets Netanyahu on Unannounced Israel Visit, as Vance Declines to Endorse Netanyahu the Same Day
- 2026-10-20Trump Gives Netanyahu His Complete and Total Endorsement Ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 Election, With a Warning to Iran
- 2026-10-21Bank of Israel Holds Benchmark Rate at 3.25%, Pausing After Three Straight Cuts a Week Before the Election; 2026 Growth Forecast at 5.6%
- 2026-10-26Follow-up: On Election Eve, Netanyahu Touts Trump's Endorsement and Says He Ordered Mossad and IDF to Bring Down Iran's Regime; Rival Cites Fear-Mongering
- 2026-10-27Israel Holds Knesset Election on October 27: 7.33 Million Voters, 12,018 Polling Stations Open Until 10 p.m.
- 2026-10-27Follow-Up: Israel Election Turnout Fastest in 49 Years as 31.5% Vote in First Five Hours; Shekel Jumps Nearly 1% to a Three-Week High
- 2026-10-27Follow-Up: Israel Exit Polls Put Likud First With 25 Seats, but Neither Bloc Reaches the 61 Seats Needed to Govern
- 2026-10-28Follow-up: With Over 70% of Votes Counted in Israel's Election, Netanyahu Bloc Projected at 54 Seats, Still Short of a Majority; Shekel Falls About 2%
- 2026-10-28Follow-Up: With About 86% Counted, Likud Leads Israel Election With 26 Seats but Neither Bloc Has a Majority; Herzog Urges Parties to Avoid Another Election
- 2026-10-29Follow-Up: Israel's Election Chief Asks Shin Bet to Probe Suspected Foreign Interference Within a Week Amid Qatar Funding Claims
- 2026-10-30Israel's Final Election Results: Netanyahu's Bloc Falls Short at 53 Seats, Arab Parties Hold the Balance With 19This story
