Likud is largest party but stalemate remains

Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot and Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu credit: Tamar Matsafi; Noam Moscowitz, Knesset Press Office

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With half the votes counted in Israel's election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's block has a clear advantage but neither side has a Knesset majority.

At 8:00 this morning, with about half the votes (51.8%) in the election for Israel’s Knesset held yesterday counted, the interim result is 56 Knesset seats to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s block, and 49 seats to the opposition "block for change". So far, neither block can command a 61 seat majority in the Knesset. The Arab parties have 15 seats, up from 10 in the current Knesset. The voter turnout was 77.7% of the electorate, the highest since 1999. Most of the exit polls last night gave an edge to the opposition, but in fact the coalition is ahead.

The numbers of seats for each party so far are as follows:

Likud - 27
Yashar - 21
Beyahad - 11
Joint Arab List - 11
Democrats - 9
Yisrael Beitenu - 8
Ra’am - 4
United Torah Judaism - 9
Shas - 7
Otzma Yehudit - 7
Religious Zionist - 6

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 28, 2026.