As of 17:00 Moscow time, after 85% of ballots had been counted, the ruling conservative Likud, together with its allies, retains the lead, but the right-wing coalition has only 53 seats out of 120. That is not enough to form a government without agreements with other forces.
The left-wing opposition, united around the new Yashar party led by General Gadi Eisenkot, is winning 48 seats. In total, the pro-Arab Ra’am and the Joint List are getting 19 seats, and it is they who may, for the first time, play a decisive role in forming the cabinet.
The Israeli publication Times of Israel пишет that Middle Eastern media describe such a result as a “remarkable and historic rise in Palestinian representation in Israel” and as a “trial of the Netanyahu era”. This outcome increases political uncertainty after the vote.
Ra’am has already been part of a “right-left” alliance that won the 2021 election, but it did not receive ministerial posts in the government of Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett. That coalition lasted only a short time because of internal conflicts and ended in December 2022 with early elections, which were won by the bloc of Netanyahu supporters.
After the current vote, it is still unclear in Israel who can form a new government and on what terms. Before the election, Gadi Eisenkot ruled out an alliance with parties that do not recognize Israel as a Jewish state and do not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and Ra’am and the Joint List do not meet these requirements; at the same time, Arab parties conditionally allowed support for a right-wing government without Netanyahu’s personal participation.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the parties that entered the Knesset to show flexibility and a willingness to dialogue so that the country will not have to go to elections again. He also praised the high turnout — over 77%.
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