Israel Election Final Results 2026: Netanyahu Bloc on 53 Seats, No Majority as Coalition Talks Begin

Photo: Reuters via Al Jazeera (combination picture)

Vote counting is complete in Israel's election, and neither side has won a majority: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 seats, the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot holds 48, and Arab list parties hold the remaining 19 in the 120 seat Knesset.

Both camps fall short of the 61 seats needed to govern. The result leaves Israel's next government to be decided in coalition talks, with the Arab parties holding the balance, even as most Jewish Israeli blocs refuse to sit with them. Opposition leaders met on Thursday to explore how a government could be formed, while Netanyahu's Likud party kept up claims, without evidence made public, that the election was stolen.

The count closes a race that has been watched closely in Pakistan and across the region, since the outcome shapes Israel's war policy and any deal that follows it. It also ends days of partial counts: the figures held steady from 85 percent counted through to the final tally.

Main News Report: Israel Election Final Results 2026

Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that vote counting is complete, with more than 99 percent of Tuesday's ballots tallied. Netanyahu's bloc holds 53 seats, Eisenkot's opposition holds 48, and the Arab list parties hold a combined 19, according to Israeli outlet Haaretz, as reported by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera adds that the final results will be certified and announced by Wednesday, and until then the results are subject to change.

The Times of India, citing official figures released by Israel's Central Elections Committee, confirms the same split and adds the party detail: Likud is the largest single party with 27 seats. United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit won seven seats each, while Shas and the Religious Zionist Party won six each. The report notes the final tally included the remaining double envelope ballots, the absentee and soldier votes that were still being counted earlier in the week.

The seat maths is stark. Netanyahu needs eight more seats to reach 61. Eisenkot needs thirteen. The Arab parties hold nineteen, which is more than either gap, but nearly every Jewish Israeli bloc has ruled out a coalition with them. That refusal is the heart of the deadlock.

Background Context

Tuesday's vote was the first Israeli election since the October 7, 2023 attacks and the start of the Gaza war, and it was widely seen as a verdict on Netanyahu's leadership. Turnout hit a record high. Early exit polls already pointed to a hung parliament, and every partial count since has told the same story.

Readers can follow how the picture settled on this blog: the exit polls on election night showed no clear winner, and the count at 84 percent still left Netanyahu's bloc short of a majority. The final tally changes none of that, it only confirms it.

Netanyahu's outgoing coalition held 68 seats. Losing fifteen of them, while still ending up as the largest bloc, is the paradox of this result: he lost his majority but kept his position as the man with the clearest path to try to form a government, since he stays on as caretaker prime minister while President Isaac Herzog decides whom to ask.

Reactions and Statements

On Thursday, Eisenkot, who heads the Yashar party, met former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who leads the Together party, to discuss ways to form a new government "as quickly as possible", according to a statement reported by Israel's Ynet News outlet. Eisenkot also met Democrats party chairman Yair Golan, the only member of the opposition alliance to support forming a coalition with parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel. Golan then met Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab List, or Ra'am, which is projected to win seven of the nineteen Arab party seats.

"This is a time for action. Our responsibility is not to miss the opportunity for change and the salvation of Israel," Golan said in a post on X after his meeting with Abbas.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh noted that Eisenkot faces an uphill battle. He has pledged not to ally himself with the Palestinian Israeli parties, yet without their support his bloc cannot reach 61. One workaround being discussed is a narrower understanding: replacing the current speaker of the Knesset, who is close to Netanyahu, which could let the opposition start passing legislation against him even without a full coalition.

Netanyahu's side has gone the other way. Likud has continued to amplify claims that Arab led parties "stole" the election, possibly with foreign help. Central Elections Committee head, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said "serious suspicions" of foreign interference had been brought to him, and he asked the Shin Bet security agency to investigate, while saying he could not verify the claims. Eisenkot hit back in a video on X: "The days of Netanyahu using state institutions against Israeli interests for his personal needs are over," adding that no "spin" can change voters rejecting his government at the polls.

Why This News Matters: Israel Election Final Results Leave No Majority

For readers in Pakistan, the result matters because Israel's next government will shape the Gaza ceasefire, the wider region, and the US led diplomacy around both. A caretaker Netanyahu, still in office but without a majority, is in a weaker position to make big decisions, yet he also has the power of incumbency and the first real chance to try to build a coalition.

The numbers, set out plainly:

• Netanyahu's bloc: 53 seats, eight short of 61. Likud 27, United Torah Judaism 7, Otzma Yehudit 7, Shas 6, Religious Zionist Party 6.
• Eisenkot's opposition: 48 seats, thirteen short of 61.
• Arab list parties: 19 seats, including Ra'am with seven.
• What either side needs: a deal that crosses the bloc line, or outside support that does not mean joining the government.

One option raised in coverage is a unity government of Likud with opposition parties such as Yashar, Together and Yisrael Beytenu, which together could command 66 seats. That would need rivals who campaigned to replace Netanyahu to sit with him instead. The other option is a minority government surviving on Arab party support from outside, which most blocs have so far refused to seek. Either way, the talks, not the vote, will now decide who governs.

Future Developments

Three steps come next. First, the Central Elections Committee certifies and announces the final results by Wednesday, and the figures could still shift slightly before then. Second, President Herzog consults party representatives and nominates the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government. Third, that candidate gets a fixed window to build a coalition, and if nobody manages it, Israel faces either a caretaker government for an extended period or, in the worst case, another election, which Herzog has already urged leaders to avoid. The region also has a stake in this: the blog has reported Qatar's peace deal efforts with Iran, and any new Israeli government will affect how those talks play out.

Sources

Al Jazeera: Israel election result shows no overall majority as vote count complete
Times of India: Israel election results, Netanyahu's bloc wins 53 seats, falls short of majority as coalition talks loom (citing Central Elections Committee figures)
Reuters: Israel's election gives survivor Netanyahu a path to keep power

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