Netanyahuʼs bloc has so far won 53 seats in Israelʼs parliamentary elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuʼs bloc has so far won 53 out of 120 seats in the parliamentary elections. At least 61 seats are needed for a parliamentary majority.

The Times of Israel writes about this.

The bloc of Yashar Party leader Gadi Eizenkot receives 48 seats, Arab parties receive 19. This is a historic high for Arab political forces. The Conservatives (2.6%), Israel People (1.6%), and Haredi (0.2%) parties have not yet overcome the electoral threshold of 3.25%.

So far, approximately 93% of the regular ballots have been counted, representing 85.6% of the total number of votes. The Central Election Commission notes that the remaining 7% of the regular ballots require additional verification. However, no significant changes to the preliminary seat allocation are expected in the near future, the Times of Israel reports.

In addition, approximately 600 000 votes in so-called double envelopes, including ballots from military personnel, police officers and diplomats who vote outside regular polling stations, have not yet been counted and are expected to be added to the results in the next few days.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog has called on political parties to form a coalition and avoid a repeat election, saying he expects negotiators to be willing to compromise.

• The parliamentary elections in Israel were held on October 27. These are the first elections since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel has a proportional electoral system: citizens vote for parties that compete for seats in the Knesset.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.