Israel count ends with no majority, opposition talks on forming government without Netanyahu

The full count in Israel's parliamentary election has ended, but uncertainty over forming a government has not cleared. In the 120-seat Knesset, no side won the 61 seats needed on its own to form a government.

Final results published early on Friday showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc winning 53 seats, including 27 for his own Likud party. The anti-Netanyahu camp won 48 seats. The Arab alliance and parties Joint List and Ra'am won 19 seats.

With support from those two Arab parties, the opposition's possible total would rise to 67, more than the number needed to form a government. Final turnout in this election was 77.9 percent, described in reports as the highest in decades.

Opposition leaders held several rounds of meetings on Thursday aimed at removing Netanyahu and forming an alternative government. But differences within the opposition over joining with Arab parties have made the path complicated. Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged the public to be patient.

Democrats chairman Yair Golan met separately with Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas, Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot and B'Yachad leader Yair Lapid. B'Yachad chairman Naftali Bennett met Eisenkot and Golan. Winning Arab parties' support to secure the seats needed to form a government received the most attention in these talks.

In an opinion column in Haaretz on Friday, Golan strongly urged forming a government with the Arab parties. He wrote that in a democratic Israel no citizen's citizenship can be conditional; an Arab citizen's vote carries the same value as a Jewish citizen's vote.

Lapid sees the result as a victory for the opposition. In a post on X on Friday he wrote that the opposition had hoped for an outright decisive win and did not get it, but Netanyahu's bloc fell from 68 seats in the previous parliament to 53. In his words, the opposition won, even if by points. Lapid added that 13 of Netanyahu bloc's 53 seats belong to the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism; excluding those 13 leaves Netanyahu with 40.

Netanyahu, for his part, moved to keep his right-wing bloc united. On Thursday he held a long meeting with National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir, and met the same day with Religious Zionist Party chairman Bezalel Smotrich. Citing Channel 14, The Times of Israel reported Netanyahu reassuring partners: “We are together, and we will stay together.”

Alongside government talks, Eisenkot is also preparing for the Knesset session. His party is preparing bills to introduce as soon as parliament sits, including mandatory military recruitment or national service for all Israeli citizens, a state commission of inquiry into the October 7, 2023 killings, and changes to how the budget is allocated.

The new Israeli parliament is due to be sworn in on November 10. Coalition talks could be highly complex and may run for more than two months. The future of the next government depends on whether the opposition can reach a workable understanding with the Arab parties, and whether Netanyahu can hold his bloc together and win support from members of other parties.

Debate has also intensified over allegations of foreign interference in the election. Eisenkot met Shin Bet chief David Zini and Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Solberg on the issue. Shin Bet said its investigation into foreign interference is not yet finished and its scope is very limited. Dean Livne, acting director general of the Central Elections Committee, also dismissed allegations of widespread election fraud as baseless, saying the election was held in accordance with the law.