Israel election ends in deadlock with Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats and opposition at 48

Israel’s Central Elections Committee released the final count from the October 27, 2026 election on October 30. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc secured 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset. The opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, won 48 seats. Arab parties, including the Joint List and Ra’am, together took 19 seats, their highest combined total. Turnout reached 77.9 percent, the highest in more than two decades.

Neither major bloc reached the 61 seats required for a majority. Netanyahu’s alliance fell from the 64 seats it held after the 2022 election. Likud itself finished with 27 seats. Eisenkot’s Yashar party and its partners form the core of the 48-seat opposition group. The Arab parties’ result followed record turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel.

President Isaac Herzog will receive the certified results on November 4. He will then consult party leaders and assign the first mandate to form a government to the candidate he judges most likely to succeed. That candidate receives 28 days, with a possible extension. If no coalition forms, Herzog can assign the mandate to another leader or new elections can be called.

Most Jewish parties have ruled out formal cooperation with the Joint List or Ra’am. This limits the arithmetic options for both Netanyahu and Eisenkot. Some opposition figures have discussed a direct election for prime minister as a way to break the deadlock, a mechanism last proposed by Netanyahu in 2021. Coalition talks are expected to last weeks.

The election was the first since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and the subsequent wars in Gaza, Lebanon and against Iran. Security and the question of Netanyahu’s continued leadership dominated the campaign. Eisenkot had led in many pre-election polls. The final seat distribution leaves both sides short of a working majority without cross-bloc agreements that neither has so far accepted.

Absentee ballots from soldiers, diplomats and hospital patients were included in the final count. The Central Elections Committee stated that an investigation into alleged voter irregularities would not alter the certified results. Parties may file challenges until November 18.

For Netanyahu, the outcome preserves his position as the leader of the largest bloc but removes the clear majority he previously held. For the opposition, the result provides a larger seat total than in recent cycles yet still falls short of the numbers needed to govern without Arab support or defections. The 19 Arab seats place those parties in a formal position to influence any narrow majority, even if most Jewish parties continue to refuse negotiations with them.

The practical next step is Herzog’s consultations. Until a coalition agreement is signed and a government is sworn in, Netanyahu remains prime minister in a caretaker capacity. The length of the deadlock will determine whether Israel faces another election within months or whether an unexpected alliance emerges from the current numbers.