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After long hours of waiting, Israel’s parliamentary election ended in a deadlock on Tuesday night, with exit polls showing that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor challenger Gadi Eisenkot reached the magic number of 61 seats required to form a new government, reported local press.
Netanyahu’s Likud Party came out as the largest single party, which defied months of polls that had it trailing Eisenkot’s Yashar. Kan’s exit poll gave Likud 25 of the 120 seats to Yashar’s 21, while Channel 12 had Likud at 24 and Yashar at 22. As for the distribution of the seats in the opposition block versus Netanyahu’s camp, the polls indicate that the opposition is holding a narrow lead with 52-53 seats against the 50 seats of Netanyahu’s camp, the Jerusalem Post projected. Zero Hedge later updated its headline to say Netanyahu’s camp was taking an edge, though the figures in its report still showed the opposition bloc narrowly ahead.
The exit polls also reported that Arab-led parties could capture 17-18 seats, outside of both Netanyahu’s and the opposition’s respective blocs. Their role in coalition talks could be hindered by deep divisions among opposition leaders over cooperating with them. Israel has held numerous elections over the past few years with the country returning to the polls for a fifth time in 2022 following the collapse of the Bennett-Lapid government.
According to the Central Elections Committee the turnout for noon was 31.5% (up from 28.4% in the 2022 election). The New York Times reported that 66.7% of voters had cast ballots by 6 PM, the highest figure for that hour of the day since such records were started in 1973. A request from Likud to extend voting hours had been rejected by the CEC, however in some polling stations people were still waiting to vote by 10 PM and were allowed to continue to cast their ballots until they did.
Tension filled the day. Netanyahu urged Likud voters to turn out, calling it a “real emergency,” and in a short video message charged that his opponents were trying to steal the election, pointing to three Ra’am operatives arrested on suspicion of bribing voters. The Times of Israel reported that Likud had prepared to contest results at polling stations in Arab communities and had sent thousands of activists to monitor them, and Netanyahu’s remarks about Arab voters drew accusations of racism. Shin Bet chief David Zini said the vote was being monitored and conducted in a proper manner.
Eisenkot called the exit polls conducted early today a vote of no confidence in Netanyahu and the Oct 7 government. This is the first national election in Israel since the Oct 7, 2023 attack, with the war in Gaza and the conflict in Lebanon still smoldering and Netanyahu threatening renewed war on Iran.
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