No clear winner in Israel election with nearly 90 percent of votes counted

Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc leads but is falling short of the votes needed to form a government.

A woman passes by a banner depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump a day after the country's national election, in West Jerusalem on October 28, 2026 [Reuters]

No clear winner has emerged from Israel’s election , with nearly 90 percent of ballots counted and both major political blocs falling short of the 61 seats needed to form a government.

The Israeli Central Elections Committee said on Wednesday that it had counted more than five million votes as of 9pm local time (19:00 GMT). Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is on course to win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot is expected to secure 48 seats.

list 1 of 3 Why Arab parties may not be the ‘kingmakers’ in this Israeli election

list 2 of 3 Balad leader blasts ‘racist’ exclusion of Arab parties in Israel

list 3 of 3 What are the implications of Israel’s elections?

Projections from Tuesday’s voting also showed that the Arab parties – the Joint List and Ra’am – could hold a record combined 19 seats.

Final election results could come as early as Thursday evening, though no clear winner is expected to emerge.

More than 500,000 special double-envelope ballots remain to be counted, potentially changing the seat distribution. These include votes cast by soldiers, diplomats and others voting away from their registered polling stations.

The vote – the first since the October 7, 2023, attacks and the Gaza genocide – was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s premiership. The 77-year-old appears far from defeated, despite lacking a clear majority.

Netanyahu will remain caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. President Isaac Herzog will begin consulting party leaders about forming a new administration next week, once the official election results are released.

Herzog has urged all parties to avoid another vote that would stall the formation of a government. But coalition building is the norm in Israel, and no party has ever won an outright majority in the country’s history.

Ahead of the vote, Eisenkot ruled out forming a minority government with Arab-led parties. Netanyahu has also rejected such a prospect.

As Netanyahu’s bloc is set to be the largest, analysts predict that he will form a unity government that could include Eisenkot. However, such an outcome is far from certain.

Eisenkot said in a post on X on Wednesday that his opposition alliance was now focused on the “heavy task entrusted to us – bringing change to Israel and establishing a Zionist mobilisation government”.

“This is the will of the people who expressed no confidence in the government of October 7th and the shirking, and in the bloc of shirkers in general. A bloc that is at the low point of two decades.”

Amid record turnout among Arab voters, Netanyahu’s Likud party accused Arab parties of stealing the election.

“The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offences of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilise voters,” the party said in a statement.

“The Likud party is transferring to the police, the Shin Bet, and the Central Elections Committee hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations,” it said.

Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen reacts to exit polls at the party’s election headquarters in Nazareth, northern Israel, on October 27, 2026 [Jamal Awad/Reuters]

Israel’s predominantly Arab Joint List political alliance said in a statement published late on Wednesday by Turkish news agency Anadolu that preliminary figures showed Arab voter turnout played a decisive role in keeping Netanyahu and his coalition short of a parliamentary majority, while cautioning that the final results were yet to be announced.

Voters answered incitement and intimidation at the ballot box, it said, rejecting a “government of butchers” and its policies of home demolitions, racism and war crimes.

The Joint List said its electoral support reflected demands for political unity and a force capable of defending Arab citizens’ rights without concessions.

It pledged to work to remove Netanyahu’s government and prevent its return, saying it was ready to cooperate towards an alternative government.

Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said the alliance could back an anti-Netanyahu government from outside, but would not join it.

内塔尼亚胡的右翼阵营领先，但距离组建政府所需的票数还差得很远。

2026年10月28日，以色列全国大选后的第二天，一名女子走过西耶路撒冷一面横幅，横幅上印有以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡和美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的画像。[路透社]

以色列大选尚未决出胜负，近 90% 的选票已经统计完毕，两大政治集团均未获得组建政府所需的 61 个席位。

以色列中央选举委员会周三表示，截至当地时间晚上9点（格林尼治标准时间19:00），已统计超过500万张选票。以色列总理内塔尼亚胡领导的联盟有望在120个议席的以色列议会（Knesset）中赢得53个席位，而由加迪·艾森科特领导的反对派联盟预计将获得48个席位。

列表 1/3：为什么阿拉伯政党可能不会成为以色列此次选举的“造王者”

巴拉德党领袖抨击以色列对阿拉伯政党的“种族主义”排斥（共3条，此为第2条）

列表 3（共 3 项）：以色列选举的影响是什么？

周二的投票结果预测还显示，阿拉伯政党——联合名单党和拉姆党——可能获得创纪录的19个席位。

最终选举结果最早可能在周四晚上公布，但预计不会出现明显的获胜者。

仍有超过50万张特殊的双层信封选票尚未清点，这可能会改变席位分配结果。这些选票包括士兵、外交官以及其他在登记投票站以外投票的人员的选票。

这次投票是自2023年10月7日袭击事件和加沙种族灭绝以来的首次投票，被广泛视为对内塔尼亚胡总理任期的一次全民公投。尽管未能获得绝对多数席位，这位77岁的老人似乎远未落败。

内塔尼亚胡将继续担任看守总理，直至新政府组建完成。总统伊萨克·赫尔佐格将于下周正式选举结果公布后，开始与各党派领导人磋商组建新政府的事宜。

赫尔佐格敦促各方避免再次举行可能阻碍组阁的投票。但在以色列，组建联合政府是常态，历史上没有任何一个政党赢得过绝对多数席位。

投票前，艾森科特排除了与阿拉伯政党组建少数派政府的可能性。内塔尼亚胡也拒绝了这种可能性。

由于内塔尼亚胡的阵营预计将是最大的，分析人士预测他将组建一个联合政府，艾森科特可能也会参与其中。然而，这样的结果远未可知。

艾森科特周三在 X 上发帖称，他的反对派联盟现在专注于“托付给我们的艰巨任务——为以色列带来变革，并建立一个犹太复国主义动员政府”。

“这是人民的意愿，他们对10月7日政府及其推诿责任的行为，以及整个推诿责任的集团表示不信任。这个集团正处于二十年来的最低点。”

在阿拉伯选民投票率创纪录的情况下，内塔尼亚胡的利库德集团指责阿拉伯政党窃取了选举。

该党在一份声明中表示：“以色列国的选举被支持恐怖主义和企图消灭犹太国家的阿拉伯政党窃取，这些政党通过贿赂、威胁、暴力、伪造和使用违禁软件等严重刑事犯罪手段来动员选民。”

声明称：“利库德集团正在向警方、辛贝特（以色列国家安全局）和中央选举委员会移交数百份证词和证据，这些证词和证据涉及许多阿拉伯投票站的选举舞弊行为。”

2026年10月27日，联合名单党领袖优素福·贾巴林在以色列北部城市拿撒勒的党内选举总部对出口民调结果作出反应。[贾迈勒·阿瓦德/路透社]

以色列主要由阿拉伯人组成的联合名单政治联盟周三晚间通过土耳其阿纳多卢通讯社发表声明称，初步数据显示，阿拉伯选民的投票率在阻止内塔尼亚胡及其联盟获得议会多数席位方面发挥了决定性作用，但同时提醒说，最终结果尚未公布。

声明称，选民们用选票回应了煽动和恐吓，拒绝了“屠夫政府”及其拆毁房屋、种族主义和战争罪行的政策。

联合名单表示，其选举支持反映了民众对政治团结的诉求，以及对一支能够毫不妥协地捍卫阿拉伯公民权利的力量的需求。

该党承诺将努力推翻内塔尼亚胡政府并阻止其复辟，并表示已准备好与政府合作组建替代政府。

联合名单党领袖优素福·贾巴林表示，该联盟可以从外部支持反内塔尼亚胡政府，但不会加入该政府。