Overview
- Two days before the Oct. 27 vote, Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Iran and its proxies might try to disrupt the election and said they would face disproportionate military blows.
- Final pre‑election polls published in the last days of campaigning put Netanyahu’s right‑wing bloc around 50 seats, well short of the 61 needed to form a government.
- President Trump publicly endorsed Netanyahu this week, a rare direct intervention that several U.S. advisers reportedly opposed and that the prime minister sought to amplify.
- Netanyahu pushed stark security messaging in the campaign’s closing hours, including an AI‑generated mushroom‑cloud image and appeals that framed Iran as an existential threat.
- If no list wins 61 seats, small parties including Arab lists and reserve or fringe factions are likely kingmakers and the post‑vote period could leave Netanyahu in caretaker control of war and foreign policy while coalition talks play out.