Israel election result shows no overall majority as vote count complete

Opposition explores options to form coalition as no party secures the 61 seats required for parliamentary majority.

A combination picture shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Israeli opposition leader, Gadi Eisenkot [File: Reuters]

Vote counting is complete in Israel’s elections with neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition winning a majority in parliament, Israeli media have said.

As the provisional results were being published on Thursday, opposition politicians met to explore options for a coalition.

With more than 99 percent of Tuesday’s ballots tallied, Netanyahu’s bloc held 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot secured 48 seats, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported. The Arab list parties, meanwhile, held a combined 19 seats, it added.

Both Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition parties fell short of securing the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority.

The final results of the Knesset elections will be certified and announced by Wednesday. Until that date, the results are subject to change.

Tuesday’s elections – the first since the October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza – were widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s premiership.

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, while all other political groups have rejected any such union.

Golan met separately with Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab list, or Ra’am, which is projected to win seven of the 19 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 has an uphill battle ahead of him.”

The former military leader-turned-politician has pledged “not to ally himself or get into a partnership with the Palestinian Israeli parties”, Odeh said, reporting from the occupied West Bank because Al Jazeera is banned from Israel.

But given the fact that no political bloc has a majority, the Eisenkot-led opposition bloc cannot form a governing coalition without the support of Arab-led parties, she added.

Netanyahu ‘using state institutions for his personal needs’

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s Likud party has continued to amplify unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance – claims that have been rejected .

The head of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said “serious suspicions” of foreign interference had been brought to him in a letter to the Shin Bet security agency. Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims, but given their serious nature, he asked the agency to investigate.

Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of working to delegitimise the election results with his allegations.

In a video posted on his X account, Eisenkot said: “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.

“Benjamin Netanyahu is not satisfied with the results, no matter how much he has been saying that he won,” political analyst Xavier Abu Eid told Al Jazeera.

He added that while it seems unlikely the opposition could take advantage by overcoming differences with the Arab-led groups, there could be an understanding to replace the current speaker of the Knesset, who is close to Netanyahu.

“If there is a new speaker in the Knesset, … Netanyahu loses an important ally,” Abu Eid said, adding that this might give an opening for the opposition to “actually start passing legislation” against him.

Odeh said the next steps would involve negotiations between political groups after the Central Elections Committee announces and certifies the election results by Wednesday.

由于没有一个政党获得议会多数所需的61个席位，反对党正在探索组建联合政府的方案。

这张合成照片显示了以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡（左）和以色列反对党领袖加迪·艾森科特。[图片来源：路透社]

以色列媒体报道称，以色列大选计票工作已经完成，总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡的联盟和反对派均未在议会中赢得多数席位。

周四，在初步选举结果公布之际，反对派政治家们举行会议，探讨组建联合政府的可能性。

据以色列《国土报》报道，周二的计票工作已完成99%以上，内塔尼亚胡领导的联盟在120个议席的以色列议会中占据53席，而加迪·艾森科特领导的反对派联盟则获得48席。报道还称，阿拉伯政党联盟共获得19席。

内塔尼亚胡的联盟和反对党均未能获得议会多数所需的 61 个席位。

以色列议会选举的最终结果将于周三得到认证并公布。在此之前，结果可能会有所变动。

周二的选举——自 2023 年 10 月 7 日以色列南部遭受袭击以及以色列对加沙发动种族灭绝战争以来的首次选举——被广泛视为对内塔尼亚胡总理任期的一次全民公投。

据以色列新闻网站Ynet报道，周四，领导亚沙尔党的艾森科特会见了领导团结党的前总理纳夫塔利·贝内特，讨论如何“尽快”组建新政府。

艾森科特还会见了民主党主席亚伊尔·戈兰，他是反对派联盟中唯一支持与以色列巴勒斯坦公民领导的政党组成联盟的成员，而其他所有政治团体都拒绝任何此类联盟。

戈兰分别会见了曼苏尔·阿巴斯，他是联合阿拉伯名单（或称拉姆）的领导人，该名单预计将赢得19个阿拉伯政党席位中的7个。

戈兰在与阿巴斯会面后，在X网站上发帖称：“现在是采取行动的时候了。我们的责任是不要错失改变现状和拯救以色列的机会。”

半岛电视台记者努尔·奥德指出，“艾森科特面临着一场艰苦的战斗。”

据奥德报道，这位前军事领导人、现任政治家已承诺“不会与巴勒斯坦以色列政党结盟或建立伙伴关系”。奥德是在被占领的约旦河西岸进行报道的，因为半岛电视台被禁止进入以色列。

但她补充说，鉴于没有任何政治集团拥有多数席位，艾森科特领导的反对派集团如果没有阿拉伯政党的支持，就无法组建执政联盟。

内塔尼亚胡“利用国家机构满足个人需求”

与此同时，内塔尼亚胡的利库德集团继续散布未经证实的指控，称阿拉伯政党“窃取”了选举，并可能得到了外国的帮助——这些说法已被驳斥。

中央选举委员会主席、最高法院法官诺姆·索尔伯格表示，他收到一封致辛贝特安全机构的信函，信中提出了有关外国干预的“严重怀疑”。索尔伯格称，他无法核实这些说法，但鉴于其严重性，他已要求辛贝特展开调查。

艾森科特指责内塔尼亚胡通过这些指控试图使选举结果失去合法性。

艾森科特在其 X 账户上发布的一段视频中表示：“内塔尼亚胡利用国家机构损害以色列利益以满足其个人需求的日子已经结束了。”他还补充说，任何“粉饰”都无法改变选民在投票中拒绝他的政府的意愿。

“无论本杰明·内塔尼亚胡如何声称自己获胜，但他对选举结果并不满意，”政治分析家泽维尔·阿布·艾德告诉半岛电视台。

他还补充说，虽然反对派不太可能通过克服与阿拉伯领导的团体之间的分歧来获得优势，但双方可能会达成谅解，更换与内塔尼亚胡关系密切的现任以色列议会议长。

“如果以色列议会出现新的议长，……内塔尼亚胡就会失去一个重要的盟友，”阿布·艾德说，并补充说，这可能会给反对派一个机会，让他们“真正开始通过立法”来反对他。

奥德表示，下一步将涉及中央选举委员会在周三宣布并确认选举结果后各政治团体之间的谈判。