Israeli opposition forces remained determined to try to form the next government after partial Knesset election results showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp in the lead, alongside expected historic gains for Arab parties that could emerge as the decisive force in determining the makeup of the next government. Uncertainty remains over whether either camp can secure the parliamentary majority needed to take power.
اضافة اعلان
Results released by the Central Elections Committee after 76.8% of the votes had been counted by Wednesday morning showed Netanyahu's camp winning 54 seats compared with 47 for the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot. Projections indicated that Arab parties could collectively win 19 seats, including 13 for the Joint List and six for Ra'am, a shift that could give them unprecedented influence in coalition negotiations, according to reports published by The Times of Israel.
Key to Power
Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said any party seeking to replace Netanyahu's government would have to engage with his list, arguing that the preliminary results had demonstrated that Arab parties had become a political force that could not be ignored.
Speaking to Israel's Channel 13, Jabareen said forming a genuine alternative to Netanyahu's government would require Jewish-Arab partnership rather than continued racism, exclusion and domination.
In remarks to Ynet, Jabareen added that his party was prepared to use its political strength to pave the way for the fall of Netanyahu's government, along with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
He said Arab parties would seek to turn their electoral gains into meaningful influence over political decisions, focusing on issues including violence and crime, the demolition of Arab homes and discrimination within Israeli society.
The statements reflected growing recognition among the opposition of the importance of Arab-party votes. Eisenkot's camp, which includes the Yashar party, Together led by Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman and the Democrats led by Yair Golan, does not appear capable of securing a parliamentary majority without Arab support, either through direct participation in government or outside support for the coalition.
Eisenkot's Message
Eisenkot, speaking to supporters at his party headquarters in Tel Aviv after the release of exit polls, maintained that voters had chosen change and rejected Netanyahu's continued rule.
He said the governing coalition had lost public confidence and called on the prime minister to take responsibility for the results and leave political life. At the same time, he acknowledged that exit polls did not represent the final results and that the outcome would require waiting for the completion of the count.
The Yashar leader said millions of Israelis had grown tired, in his words, of a culture of lies, failures, division and incitement. He pledged to do everything possible to form a stable Zionist government that would impose military or national service on everyone, work to dismantle Hamas and respect the different components of Israeli society.
He said his mission was not to defeat one political camp in favor of another, but to reunite Israeli society.
Eisenkot also sent a direct message to security and civil-service officials, urging them to put the interests of the state and its citizens first and not yield to political pressure.
He warned Netanyahu against using security issues to gain electoral advantages or preserve his position, while stressing the need to move quickly to form a government. He said holding another election after a high voter turnout would be a political mistake.
Delayed Votes
The Central Elections Committee postponed the final determination of a significant portion of the results because of so-called "double-envelope" ballots. These include votes cast by Israeli military personnel, diplomats, workers in certain medical sectors, prisoners and voters who cast ballots outside their designated polling stations.
The counting of these ballots could continue until Friday, according to estimates cited in the report.
The committee estimated the number of such ballots at around 600,000, a significant increase compared with the 2022 election. One Knesset seat is estimated to require roughly 40,000 votes, meaning these ballots could influence the final distribution of seats and alter coalition calculations, particularly given the close competition between the political camps and the absence of a clear majority.
Previous elections have shown that soldiers' votes generally tend to favor parties other than Arab and ultra-Orthodox parties. However, the large number of reservists serving during the current war has made voting patterns more difficult to predict.
The economic newspaper Globes meanwhile reported that the final number of seats held by Arab parties could decline after the double-envelope ballots are counted, despite preliminary projections giving them record representation.
Coalition Battle
Netanyahu faced pressure from his right-wing and religious allies not to form a unity government with Eisenkot.
Ben-Gvir warned that excluding his party in favor of more moderate forces would be a major mistake, while Smotrich insisted on continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and voiced support for establishing Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Their positions highlight the differences between the demands of the far right and the options available to the opposition.
On the other side, Golan's Democrats expressed a willingness to cooperate with various partners, including Ra'am, while Bennett and Lapid ruled out forming a government that includes Arab parties.
This has narrowed the options available to the opposition camp, potentially forcing some of its leaders to reconsider their campaign pledges or seek parliamentary support from outside the government to cross the threshold required for a majority.
Among the ultra-Orthodox parties, United Torah Judaism maintained its opposition to compulsory military service for religious seminary students, saying its voters had placed their trust in religious leaders who oppose mandatory enlistment.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri, meanwhile, refrained from announcing a final position after exit polls projected that his party could fall to six or seven seats, compared with 11 seats in the outgoing Knesset.
The developments show that the election results alone will not determine who becomes the next prime minister. The outcome will depend on the parties' ability to reach agreements over military service, security issues, the future of settlements and relations with Arab parties.
Eisenkot is seeking to turn the opposition's lead in some exit polls into a governing majority, while Netanyahu remains committed to forming a new right-wing government. All sides are now awaiting the completion of the vote count before formal coalition negotiations begin.
