Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is currently expected to enter the Knesset with 54 seats, the Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Wednesday morning after over four million votes were counted.
Netanyahu’s Likud is projected to enter with 27 seats, while United Torah Judaism, Shas, and Otzma Yehudit are expected to enter with seven seats, and the Religious Zionist Party is expected to enter with six seats, respectively.
The opposition bloc, comprising Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to enter the Knesset with 49 seats, according to data from the CEC.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar is projected to enter the Knesset with 22 seats. B’Yachad, led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, is expected to enter with 12 seats. Yair Golan’s Democrats are expected to enter the Knesset with eight seats, and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu is expected to enter with seven.
The latest results by the CEC put 19 seats in the Arab parties, with the Joint List having 11 seats and Ra’am having six seats in the next Knesset.
Could Israel be heading toward a unity gov’t – or another election?
The prospect of a unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot has appeared unlikely, as Eisenkot has rejected serving under Netanyahu, including in a rotation government. Other opposition leaders have also ruled out joining a coalition led by the prime minister.
Eisenkot has called for the leader of the largest party in the opposition bloc to become its candidate for prime minister, though no agreement on the arrangement has been announced within the bloc.
The exit polls also raised the possibility of a minority government that could win a Knesset confidence vote without holding an absolute majority of 61 seats. However, opposition within the bloc to relying on Arab parties could complicate such an arrangement.
The political deadlock could ultimately lead to another election, although the parties may still reach an agreement through coalition negotiations.
Democrats, Arab parties call to form opposition government
Democrats’ chairman Yair Golan said that the bloc led by Prime Minister Netanyahu lost the 2026 Knesset election, as the opposition bloc reached 65 seats when the Arab parties are included.
“Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. Sixty-five is more than 55. That’s how Israeli democracy works. Period,” he said, calling for the inclusion of Arab parties in the government in the upcoming Knesset elections,” he wrote Wednesday morning.
He also said that if Netanyahu was considering forming a Zionist bloc, he should “subtract from his own bloc the 16 Knesset members from the non-Zionist Haredi parties.”
“We have a majority. We have responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel’s Arab citizens. A government that will serve all Israeli citizens,” Golan added.
Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen said on Wednesday that his party was ready to “pave the way for the ousting of the Netanyahu government.”
“Against a government of bloodshed, against a politics of supremacy, racism, and exclusion, we offer a completely different alternative,” he posted on X/Twitter.
“The change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership. No less than that, and no more than that,” he added.
Later, in an interview with Army Radio, Joint List faction chairman MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Ta’al) hinted at his willingness to sit with the opposition.
“The opposition bloc will be able to form a government if it has the courage. We are extending a hand and are ready to help,” he said.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
