Overview
- The Central Election Commission on Wednesday completed its review and said it found no results that damaged the integrity of the 27 October vote, formally rejecting fraud complaints against predominantly Arab parties.
- No bloc reached the 61-seat majority needed in the 120-seat Knesset: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu’s bloc won 53 seats and the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot 48, while the two Arab lists together won a record 19 seats that give them decisive leverage.
- Netanjahu and Likud have repeatedly accused Arab parties of stealing the election and pointed to arrests and alleged irregularities, but Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has refused to open investigations without substantive evidence and asked the Shin Bet to produce proof.
- President Isaac Herzog has begun two days of televised consultations with party leaders to identify who should try to form a government, a process that will produce a nominee with 28 days to build a coalition if negotiations succeed.
- Bargaining looks likely to be protracted and polarizing, with civil-society pressure from families of 7 October victims, disputes over the role of security and justice institutions, and the real possibility of a repeat election or months of paralysis if leaders cannot find compromise.