Netanyahu does better than expected but neither bloc on track to form government
Netanyahu’s Likud outperformed many pre-election opinion surveys to emerge as Israel’s single biggest party. But his coalition is far short of a majority.
Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, announced victory on Tuesday night based on preliminary voting results, stating he should have the first opportunity to form a government following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, coordination with other leaders of his bloc was underway. Initial results placed Eisenkot's bloc ahead of Netanyahu's by a margin of 53-50 or 52-50, while Netanyahu narrowly led in direct head-to-head matchups by 24-22, 25-23, or 25-21.
Upon hearing the initial results, Eisenkot's headquarters erupted in cheers, though there were moments of nervousness as they saw Netanyahu's party appeared largest. In Israel's political system, the largest bloc typically gets the first right to attempt forming a government and could seize control of the Knesset pending a government's formation.
Yet, Eisenkot faced challenges in forming a government, including convincing coalition partners, notably Avigdor Liberman, to accept government roles or minority support from Israeli-Arab parties, which Liberman had previously declined during the campaign. Despite hoping for even larger victory margins, Eisenkot's position remained uncertain due to the significant influence of Israeli-Arab parties not tied to a specific bloc.
Eisenkot's campaign emphasized criticizing the previous government's failures in preventing the October 7 Hamas attack. He began his tour in Ofakim and Nir Oz of the Gaza Strip, criticizing past government actions, and then traveled to Ashdod and other locations before voting in Herzliya at 1:45 p.m. and returning to his election night headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Eisenkot had already lodged complaints with the Israeli Election Commission over alleged systematic ballot destruction at various voting sites. His strongest backing came from voters who held Netanyahu responsible for the October 7 incident or blamed him for not integrating the haredi sector into the IDF, despite over 1,000 Israeli soldiers losing their lives in recent years.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Exit polls show Eisenkot-led bloc ahead of Netanyahu’s, gains for Palestinian-led parties middleeasteye.net
- High voter turnout could push out smaller right-wing parties, hurting Netanyahu's bloc haaretz.com
- Record turnout as Israeli voters deliver verdict on Netanyahu lemonde.fr
- Netanyahu does better than expected but neither bloc on track to form government theage.com.au
- Exit polls show indecisive election result en.globes.co.il
- Israeli voter turnout hits 66.7% as Netanyahu seeks poll extension english.ajel.sa
