Netanyahu's bloc falls short of a majority in Israel's final election results while Arab parties win a record 19 seats
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party has filed witness statements and physical evidence with Israeli police alleging cash-filled envelopes containing Ra'am ballots were distributed to manipulate the vote.Arab parties surged to a projected record 18 or 19 seats, complicating any Gadi Eisenkot-led coalition that has been reluctant to depend on their backing.
Neither Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot secured the 61 seats needed to govern, leaving Israel in deadlock after final results confirmed the stalemate. Netanyahu's allies took 53 seats, Eisenkot's bloc 48, with Arab parties claiming a historic 19 — enough, if combined with the opposition, to reach 67. Coalition negotiations will now determine whether Israel gets a new government or faces yet another election.
Netanyahu's Likud won 27 seats, Eisenkot's Yashar party 21, and Naftali Bennett's Beyachad 12 — but the arithmetic leaves no bloc self-sufficient.
Former PM Ehud Olmert declared that 'the majority of voters in Israel voted no-confidence' in Netanyahu, warning he cannot form a government while keeping Ben-Gvir and Smotrich as partners.
