Image provided by EPA
In Israel's general election held on the 27th, the ruling party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading the opposition led by former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, based on the number of seats won with 85% of votes counted. However, the ruling party has not yet achieved a majority.
The final results may not be known for another day or two, as 430,000 to 480,000 absentee ballots from soldiers, diplomats and hospital patients have yet to be counted.
Preliminary results, with 85% of the votes counted, project that the ruling coalition, consisting of the right-wing Likud party led by Netanyahu and far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, will win 53 seats in the Knesset (120 seats).
Meanwhile, the opposition camp, made up of Eisenkot's centrist Yashar party and three Jewish parties, is expected to win 48 seats.
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have said they will form a coalition government.
Arab parties are expected to win a record 19 seats. This power may influence the future direction of the government. However, all but one Jewish political party has stated that they will not form a cooperative relationship.
Image copyrightReuters
As soon as the election results are confirmed, President Yitzhak Herzog will consult with all political parties and instruct the leaders he deems most promising to form a government. This could take several weeks.
If a government cannot be formed, new elections will eventually be held.
Voter turnout in this election was 77.7%, the highest in more than 20 years. Mr. Herzog praised this at a meeting at his official residence in Jerusalem on the 28th.
He also said he expected to receive the official results of the election next week, after which he would begin discussions with political parties.
Ruling party says election was “stolen”
Against this backdrop, Likud on the 28th complained that the election had been "stolen" by Arab parties.
Likud claimed, without providing evidence, that Arab parties "influenced voters through bribery, intimidation, violence, fraud and the use of prohibited software."
In response, the Central Election Commission said it would look into these claims as part of post-election verification.
Two Arab parties, the United Arab List (Ra'am) and the Joint List, are expected to almost double their number of seats.
This is said to be due to a sharp rise in voter turnout among Arab Israelis, who make up about one-fifth of Israel's population and often refer to themselves as Palestinian-Israeli citizens.
This general election was the first to be held after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel led by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and the subsequent wars in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Iran.
It was seen as one of the most important elections for the people, as it not only chose a leader and political party, but also had the potential to decide whether Israel would continue on its current path of hardline religious nationalism.
Key issues included accountability for the security lapses that led to the October 7 attacks, the conduct of regional conflicts, the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military, judicial reform, and Israel's standing in the international community.
(English article: Netanyahu's bloc leading Israel election but short of majority, partial results show)
