Overview
- The October 27 ballot produced no clear majority and left Israel with a hung parliament in which Arab parties hold decisive seats to form a government.
- Benjamin Netanyahu and allied figures publicly accused Arab lists of bribery, foreign funding and fraud and pushed for investigations without presenting public, independent evidence.
- Israel's Central Elections Committee, the head of Shin Bet and the attorney general publicly affirmed the election was conducted properly and said voters' decisions will be respected.
- Police arrested three activists tied to Raam on election day on suspicion of vote-buying but many judicial requests were rejected and some suspects were released, a development used by both sides in the political fight.
- Opposition leaders led by Gadi Eisenkot have aligned to try to form an alternative 'sionist' government but disagreement over whether to include Arab parties and demands on issues like recognition of Israel as a Jewish state leave coalition formation uncertain.