Exit polls show 51-seat tie in Israel's Knesset race
Both major blocs remain ten seats short of the governing majority as Arab parties position themselves as key negotiators.
By Kaito Sokolov ·
Channel 13 exit poll data places both major Israeli political blocs at 51 seats in the 120-member Knesset, leaving neither side with the 61 seats needed to form a government.
The projections, updated as voting closed, show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition tied with the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot. The result leaves both camps ten seats short of an absolute majority, with unaligned Arab parties expected to hold 18 seats.
Voting began early in the morning and concluded in the evening, with the Central Elections Committee reporting a 77.7 percent turnout. Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, told supporters in Tel Aviv that the initial numbers showed a “complete lack of confidence in Netanyahu and the October 7 government.”
Yair Lapid, an opposition leader, issued a statement calling the result a “crushing defeat” for the incumbent administration. He argued that the public had voted to send the current leadership home, despite the numerical tie.
Netanyahu’s allies pushed back against the opposition’s immediate claims of victory. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the opposing statements “premature” on social media. He emphasized that Likud remained the largest single party in parliament and that final results could alter the balance.
Arab political leaders positioned their parties as decisive factors in upcoming coalition talks. Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List, told reporters that his party would transform its mandate into a new political reality. At the Joint List headquarters in Nazareth, candidate Faten Gattas stated that high participation aimed to block the return of Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition.
Formal coalition negotiations are set to begin soon, with smaller parties expected to play a central role in determining which bloc secures a working majority.
