Count snapshot: October 28, 2026, at 12:34 p.m. Israel time. All seat figures are provisional.
Benjamin Netanyahu emerged from election night with Likud leading the partial results and his political future still unresolved. The latest count put his bloc at 54 seats, seven short of an outright majority in the 120 seat Knesset.
The bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot stood at 49 seats, with the Joint List and Ra'am together accounting for another 17. Those numbers leave more seats outside Netanyahu's camp than inside it. Turning them into a government, however, would require agreements that do not yet exist.
Both leaders claimed grounds for optimism overnight. Netanyahu called for a right wing government, while Eisenkot said voters had chosen change. Wednesday's count left both facing the same practical test: finding parliamentary support beyond their own camps.
Nearly 5.7 Million Voters Turned Out
The Central Elections Committee's closing time figures showed 5,695,682 people had voted, representing 77.7% of eligible voters. That was 7.1 percentage points above the equivalent figure in the 2022 election, when turnout stood at 70.6%.
The figure was still near-final. Polling stations generally closed at 10 p.m. Tuesday, but people already waiting in line were allowed to vote.
Participation was also high in the military. The IDF reported turnout of 79.9% among service members. Their ballots are part of the double envelope count, which takes place separately and can change the distribution of seats.
The turnout figures describe participation. They do not establish which side ultimately gained from it.
More Than Four Million Votes Counted: Where Each Party Stands
At the 12:34 p.m. update, 4,400,507 votes had been counted, equivalent to approximately 77.3% of the reported closing time voter total.
That distinction matters because some live updates report the percentage of ballot boxes processed. Ballot boxes contain different numbers of votes, so that percentage is not interchangeable with the share of individual ballots counted.
The seat distribution calculated from the partial count was:
| Party or electoral list | Projected seats |
|---|---|
| Likud | 27 |
| Yashar, led by Gadi Eisenkot | 22 |
| B'Yachad, the Bennett-Lapid alliance | 12 |
| Joint List | 11 |
| The Democrats | 8 |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | 7 |
| Shas | 7 |
| United Torah Judaism | 7 |
| Otzma Yehudit | 7 |
| Religious Zionism-Zehut | 6 |
| Ra'am | 6 |
| Total | 120 |
These are provisional seat calculations from votes already counted, not certified results or a guarantee of the final distribution. The Reservists-Economic list and People of Israel remained below the 3.25% electoral threshold in the latest count.
Can Netanyahu Form a Government?
The current bloc breakdown shows why the election remains unresolved:
| Political grouping | Projected seats |
|---|---|
| Netanyahu's bloc | 54 |
| Eisenkot led opposition bloc | 49 |
| Joint List and Ra'am | 17 |
| Threshold for an outright majority | 61 |
Netanyahu cannot reach an outright majority with his existing bloc on these figures. If the distribution holds, he would need at least seven additional seats behind him to assemble a majority coalition.
That would require a political breakthrough. The principal leaders of the opposing Zionist parties entered the election ruling out a government under Netanyahu. Their seats cannot simply be added to his total because some of those parties share right wing positions.
Eisenkot faces a different obstacle. His bloc and the two Arab led lists would together hold 66 seats. But that is a mathematical combination, not an agreed coalition.
Democrats leader Yair Golan called Wednesday for cooperation with the Arab parties. Avigdor Liberman has rejected a coalition including them, while Eisenkot and Naftali Bennett also campaigned with restrictions on such partnerships.
Ra'am's six projected seats would bring Eisenkot's bloc to only 55. On this snapshot, an alternative majority would therefore require support extending beyond Ra'am, or a different arrangement involving parties from Netanyahu's camp.
A minority government is another possible mechanism, but it would still need sufficient support or abstentions in the Knesset to take office. No such arrangement has been secured.
What Could Still Change the Outcome?
The remaining ballots can move seats between parties and blocs. Votes cast by soldiers and other people using double envelopes require additional checks, including safeguards against duplicate voting. Their counting was scheduled to begin Wednesday evening.
The published count also reflects the order in which polling stations report. It is not a representative national sample, and changes during the morning should not automatically be treated as a trend that will continue.
Once the official results are published, President Isaac Herzog will consult parliamentary factions and assign a lawmaker the task of forming a government. The first candidate normally receives 28 days, with a possible extension of up to 14 days.
The largest party does not automatically receive the premiership. Netanyahu's ability to return with a new government will depend on the final seats and the commitments he can obtain. His opponents face the same requirement.
Until a new government takes office, Netanyahu and the outgoing cabinet continue serving.
