Israel’s October 27, 2026 parliamentary election ended in a deadlock, according to major exit polls. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing and religious bloc nor the opposition “change bloc” led by former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot reached the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset.
Exit polls on Channels 11 (Kan), 12 and 13 showed a similar pattern. They gave Netanyahu’s bloc about 50 seats, down from 64 in 2022. They gave Eisenkot’s bloc 52 to 53 seats. That bloc includes his Yashar party and allies such as Bennett’s B’Yachad, Yisrael Beiteinu and the Democrats.
The polls showed the Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, rising to 17 to 18 seats, up from 10. Likud remained the largest single party with 24 to 25 seats. Eisenkot’s Yashar was projected at 21 to 23 seats. Right-leaning Channel 14 was an outlier and projected 60 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc.
This was Israel’s first national election since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the wars that followed in Gaza, Lebanon and with Iran. It worked as a referendum on Netanyahu’s wartime leadership. Pre-election polls had expected a sharper fall for his bloc. Likud did better than some surveys predicted but still fell well short of a majority.
The Arab parties now stand as potential kingmakers. Both main blocs have largely ruled out partnering with them, with limited exceptions. Netanyahu claimed opponents, especially Arab parties, were trying to “steal the election” and cited arrests linked to alleged vote-buying. His party had prepared fraud challenges focused on Arab areas. Yashar accused him of laying groundwork to contest the results with baseless fraud claims. Donald Trump had strongly endorsed Netanyahu before the vote. President Isaac Herzog will consult party leaders. He typically tasks the leader of the largest party, currently Likud, with trying to form a coalition.
Official counts were still coming in as of early October 28, and exit polls are only indicators. Turnout was historically high, at over 74% by late afternoon, the highest in decades at a comparable point in the day.
