Who Is Asking for Israel's Vote — Talking About Israel

Updated November 2, 2026

The results

Final results, published early Friday, October 30, leave both camps short of the 61 seats needed to govern. Turnout was 77.9 percent, with 5,716,665 votes cast. Eleven parties won seats.

Party	Seats
Netanyahu bloc	53
Likud	27
United Torah Judaism	7
Otzma Yehudit	7
Shas	6
Religious Zionism – Zehut	6
Opposition bloc	48
Yashar	21
B'Yachad	12
The Democrats	8
Yisrael Beytenu	7
Arab-led parties	19
The Joint List	11
Ra'am	8

Three lists fell below the 3.25 percent threshold: Yoaz Hendel's Reservists – Economic Party (2.63 percent), Ofer Winter's People of Israel (1.7 percent) and the Charedi Public (0.2 percent).

Likud is still the largest party, but it fell from 32 seats to 27. Yashar, running for the first time, finished second. The Arab-led parties won more seats than ever before. Likud has claimed that Arab parties "stole" the election. The Central Elections Committee says the investigation into alleged fraud will not affect the final results.

The coalition talks

President Isaac Herzog receives the certified results on Wednesday, November 4, and begins consultations at 5 p.m. that day. Breaking with custom, he is meeting the parties from smallest to largest. Religious Zionism, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu go first on Wednesday. On Thursday he meets United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit, the Democrats, Ra'am, the Joint List, B'Yachad, Yashar and, last, Likud. The new Knesset is sworn in on November 10. Herzog must choose who gets the first chance to form a government by November 11. That lawmaker will have 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension.

Where the parties stand, as of November 2:

Eisenkot's camp. Bennett's B'Yachad, Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu and Golan's Democrats all say they will recommend Eisenkot. Their leaders hold their first joint meeting since the election on Tuesday, November 3.
The Arab-led parties. The Joint List and Ra'am are expected to recommend Eisenkot. Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi has offered to support an alternative government from outside the coalition.
Netanyahu's camp. Netanyahu says that, as head of the largest party, he should lead a "broad national government" that does not depend on Ra'am or the Joint List. Shas is expected to recommend him, and Shas leader Aryeh Deri has reportedly ruled out joining an Eisenkot-led government without Likud. Likud's coalition whip has ruled out sharing the premiership in a rotation.
United Torah Judaism. Hebrew media report that senior UTJ figures might support an Eisenkot-led government from outside, in exchange for funding for the Haredi community and progress toward a draft arrangement. The party may also decline to recommend anyone.

If every opposition and Arab-led party recommends Eisenkot, he would have 67 recommendations to Netanyahu's 53. Recommendations are not a coalition, though. Yashar, B'Yachad and Yisrael Beytenu have said they will not sit in a government with the Arab parties, and without them Eisenkot's camp has 48 seats. To reach 61, he would need outside support from Arab-led parties, a deal with a Haredi party, or a unity government that includes Likud. Herzog chooses the lawmaker he believes has the best chance of forming a government, not necessarily the one with the most recommendations.

Herzog has urged party leaders to "stop climbing trees and face reality" and to find "creative solutions to prevent another election." If no one can form a government, Israel goes back to the polls. Until a new government is sworn in, Netanyahu remains caretaker prime minister.

How to talk about it now

The question you will hear most this week is "Who won?" The honest answer is that Israelis gave no one a majority. The next government will be built in negotiations, not declared on election night. That makes this a good moment for a question the guide below calls one of the hardest in Israeli politics: whether the elected representatives of Arab citizens can be partners in governing.

You might ask: "If no one has a majority, what compromise would you accept to avoid another election?"

Before the vote. The guide below was published on October 26. Poll figures are the last published before the legal blackout. Each party's final result has been added.

On Tuesday, October 27, about 7.3 million Israelis can vote in the country's first national election since the Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023. It is the first election in four years. Many Israelis call it the most important election in a generation.

For those of us who talk about Israel with family, friends and colleagues, this is a good time to slow down. Headlines tend to shrink an Israeli election into one question: Netanyahu, yes or no. That question matters. But Israelis are also voting on deeper questions. Who will answer for October 7? Who will serve in the army? How independent should the courts be? What should Israel's relationship with its Arab citizens look like? And what kind of Jewish and democratic state do Israelis want to pass on to their children?

This guide sets out who is running, what each party says it wants and how the pieces may fit together after the votes are counted.

How the system works

Israelis don't vote for a prime minister. They vote for a party list. The 120 seats of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, are divided in proportion to each party's national vote. A party needs at least 3.25 percent of the vote, about four seats, to get in. Thirty-seven lists are on the ballot. Pollsters expect 11 to 13 of them to cross that line.

No Israeli party has ever won a majority on its own. After the vote, President Isaac Herzog will meet with the leaders of every party that won seats. He will then give the task of forming a government to the lawmaker he thinks has the best chance of building a 61-seat coalition. That person does not have to lead the largest party. He or she gets 28 days, plus a possible 14-day extension. If that fails, another candidate gets a turn. If every attempt fails, Israel goes back to the polls, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays on as caretaker in the meantime.

So Tuesday decides what the Knesset looks like. It may not decide, at least for weeks, who governs.

Where the race stood before the vote

By law, no polls could be published after Friday, October 23. The last surveys before that deadline agreed on one thing: neither camp is near 61 seats.

Channel 13 gave the anti-Netanyahu "change bloc" 54 seats, Netanyahu's bloc 50 and the Arab-led parties 16.
Channel 12 gave the change bloc 56, Netanyahu's bloc 50 and the Arab-led parties 14.
The Kan public broadcaster gave the change bloc 52, Netanyahu's bloc 50, the Arab-led parties 14 and the Reservists party 4.

Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot's new Yashar party led Likud in all three final polls, by 22 or 23 seats to between 19 and 21. The pro-government Channel 14 has consistently shown a different picture, with Netanyahu's bloc close to or above a majority.

One more late change: on October 19, former defense minister Benny Gantz pulled his Blue and White party out of the race after months of polling below the threshold. Because he withdrew so late, Blue and White is still printed on the ballot. Votes cast for it will be wasted.

The Netanyahu bloc

Likud

Leader: Benjamin Netanyahu · Result: 27 seats

Likud is Israel's main right-wing party. It has governed for almost all of the last 17 years. Netanyahu, almost 77, is the longest-serving prime minister in Israel's history. He is also on trial for corruption, and he denies the charges.

Likud is running on its war record. The party argues that three years of military campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and against Iran have left Israel stronger than ever. It points to the buffer zones the IDF now holds and to Netanyahu's long diplomatic experience, especially his close relationship with President Donald Trump, who has endorsed him. Netanyahu blames the security establishment, not his government, for the failures that came before October 7.

Likud has not published a full platform. If it stays in power, it is expected to push ahead with its judicial overhaul and with legislation to protect military exemptions for yeshiva students. Its central campaign message is a warning: an opposition government would depend on Arab-led parties, which Likud calls a security risk. The slogan, used before, is "it's us or them."

Polls show Likud winning 19 to 23 seats, down sharply from the 32 it holds now.

Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power)

Leader: Itamar Ben Gvir · Result: 7 seats

This far-right party is led by the national security minister. It is campaigning on what it calls its achievements: a law requiring the death penalty for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks, more police officers, a large increase in gun licenses, harsher conditions for Palestinian prisoners and expanded Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount. The party wants to "encourage emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, including with financial incentives. It supports a law that would let a 61-member Knesset majority override High Court rulings. Courts have repeatedly ordered Ben Gvir to stop interfering in police operations and promotions. Polls give the party 7 to 9 seats.

Religious Zionism – Zehut

Leaders: Bezalel Smotrich, with Moshe Feiglin second · Result: 6 seats

Finance Minister Smotrich's party speaks for the pro-settlement religious-nationalist community. This time it is running with Feiglin's libertarian Zehut. Smotrich has called for Israel to annex Gaza, most of the West Bank and southern Lebanon. He has led a record expansion of West Bank settlements and wants the Palestinian Authority dismantled. The party wants to limit judicial review and the public's right to petition the courts. Its own base has a strong tradition of military service and lost many sons in Gaza, so the coalition's protection of Haredi exemptions puts it in an awkward spot. Polls give it about 6 or 7 seats.

Shas

Leader: Aryeh Deri · Result: 6 seats

Shas is the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party and one of Likud's closest allies. It presents itself as a defender of traditional Jewish identity and of working-class families. It opposes civil marriage, LGBTQ rights and non-Orthodox Judaism. In the Knesset, Shas fought hard against a universal draft. During the campaign, though, its ads have tried to honor both military service and Torah study. It has not published a platform. Polls give it 7 to 10 seats. Eisenkot has said he could partner with Shas if it accepts his basic conditions, which makes it one of the few possible bridges between the two camps.

United Torah Judaism

Leaders: Yaakov Asher, with Yitzhak Goldknopf second · Result: 7 seats

This alliance of Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox parties has one top priority: writing the Haredi community's draft exemption into law. The High Court ruled in 2024 that the exemption had no legal basis. UTJ left Netanyahu's government because that law never passed, and it says it will not support any government that fails to pass it. The party also opposes public transportation on Shabbat and teaching core secular subjects in Haredi schools. It has no published platform. Polls give it about 7 or 8 seats.

The opposition bloc

Yashar

Leader: Gadi Eisenkot · Result: 21 seats

Yashar means "straight" or "honest." Its ballot letters spell derech, "the path." The party is the main reason this election is competitive. Eisenkot is a former IDF chief of staff. His son Gal was killed fighting in Gaza in December 2023. Many Israelis trust him because he is plainspoken and because he has shared the country's grief.

Yashar's platform calls for:

a state commission of inquiry into October 7
universal military or national service
a written constitution rooted in the Declaration of Independence
a strong, independent judiciary
better public education and a more professional civil service
a new national security doctrine
economic reforms to lower the cost of living
rebuilding communities devastated by the war

Eisenkot has set four conditions for any party joining his government: accept Israel as Jewish and democratic, support the Declaration of Independence, back universal service and recognize Hamas as a terrorist group that must be destroyed. He says no Arab or ultra-Orthodox party meets those conditions today. His list includes former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen and several former ministers, but most of its likely new lawmakers have little political experience.

B'Yachad (Together)

Leaders: Naftali Bennett, with Yair Lapid second · Result: 12 seats

This alliance brings back the two men who led the 2021–2022 "government of change." Bennett is religiously observant, comes from the nationalist right and calls himself part of a "new right" focused on rebuilding trust in Israel's institutions. Lapid is the current opposition leader. At the party's launch, Bennett declared that "the era of division is over."

The platform includes a state commission of inquiry into October 7, drafting ultra-Orthodox men and bringing the Haredi community into the workforce, a revised security doctrine, making the rebuilding of frontline communities a national priority, housing reform, breaking up monopolies and repairing ties with Jews around the world. B'Yachad has ruled out bringing back its 2021 partnership with the Arab party Ra'am. It has not committed to backing Eisenkot for prime minister. It is consistently third in the polls, with 11 to 15 seats.

Yisrael Beytenu (Israel Our Home)

Leader: Avigdor Liberman · Result: 7 seats

Liberman's party began as the voice of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Today it is the home of secular, hawkish voters. It pairs a tough security doctrine, built on striking first and winning decisively, with a firmly secular agenda at home: universal service, required core studies in every publicly funded school, civil marriage and divorce, and letting local authorities run public transportation on Shabbat. It also supports a state commission of inquiry, a constitution, less bureaucracy and a crackdown on organized crime.

Liberman won't serve under Netanyahu. He also rules out sitting with Shas, UTJ, Ra'am or the Joint List, though he says a post-Netanyahu Likud could be a partner. Polls give the party 7 to 10 seats.

The Democrats

Leader: Yair Golan · Result: 8 seats

The Democrats were formed in 2024 when Labor, the party that led Israel through its first decades, merged with left-wing Meretz. Golan is a former IDF deputy chief of staff. On the morning of October 7 he drove to the Nova festival site and rescued survivors. The party's platform calls for diplomatic efforts to end the cycles of fighting, civil and social rights protected in Basic Laws, moving money from sector-specific budgets to social services, civil marriage, education reform and fighting crime in Arab communities. It calls for a diplomatic initiative with the Palestinians but does not explicitly endorse a Palestinian state. Golan is the only leader of a Jewish-led opposition party who openly supports including an Arab party, especially Ra'am, in a coalition. Polls give it 8 to 10 seats.

The Arab-led parties

Arab citizens make up about a fifth of Israel's population. How many of them vote could decide whether either bloc reaches 61 seats.

Ra'am (United Arab List)

Leaders: Mansour Abbas, with Yoav Segalovitz second · Result: 8 seats

Ra'am is a socially conservative Islamic party. In 2021 it made history as the first independent Arab party in decades to join a governing coalition. Abbas argues that Arab citizens gain more by working from inside government than by protesting from outside it. He has cut the party's formal ties to the Islamic Movement's religious council. He also recruited Segalovitz, a Jewish Zionist and former senior police commander who led a national campaign against organized crime in Arab communities.

Ra'am's priorities are a multibillion-shekel national plan against violent and organized crime, more funding for Arab towns and cities, better infrastructure and jobs, easier planning and building rules, and recognition of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. It opposes the 2018 nation-state law. Most Zionist parties have ruled out partnering with Ra'am this time. Polls give it 4 to 6 seats.

The Joint List

Leaders: Yousef Jabareen, with Ahmad Tibi second · Result: 11 seats

The Joint List brings together three Arab-led factions: communist Hadash, Ta'al and nationalist Balad. They disagree on a lot, but each would struggle to pass the threshold alone. The platform calls for social justice, civic and national equality, and a "just peace" with a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It also calls for ending spending on West Bank settlements and military operations in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, free education from birth through university, a much higher minimum wage and broad nationalization of the economy.

The Joint List will not join a Zionist government. Jabareen has offered to support a replacement government from outside the coalition if it invests in Arab communities, stops home demolitions in the Negev and offers what he calls a genuine political horizon for Palestinians. Polls give the list 8 or 9 seats.

Parties near the threshold

Several small parties could decide the outcome, either by squeaking into the Knesset or by falling just short and wasting tens of thousands of votes.

Reservists – Economic Party

Leaders: Yoaz Hendel and Yaron Zelekha · Result: 2.63%, below the threshold

This center-right list is led by former communications minister and reserve commander Yoaz Hendel, together with economist Yaron Zelekha. It is campaigning on universal military or national service, a fight against tycoons and the high cost of living, and judicial reform reached by broad agreement rather than one-sided legislation. Author and former Labor MK Einat Wilf is third on the list. Hendel has not ruled out serving with Netanyahu. He says he won't prop up a narrow government that depends on Haredi parties. Kan's final poll had the party winning four seats. Channel 12 and Channel 13 had it falling short.

People of Israel (Amcha Yisrael)

Leader: Ofer Winter · Result: 1.7%, below the threshold

Founded in August by retired general Ofer Winter, this right-wing party promises decisive military victory, "voluntary" emigration from Gaza, firm opposition to a Palestinian state and a justice-system overhaul. It also promises an end to Haredi draft exemptions and says it will not join any government that doesn't require all draft-age Israelis to serve. That puts it at odds with Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox partners, yet Winter says he will recommend only Netanyahu for prime minister. Pro-Israel activist Yoseph Haddad, an Arab Christian, is second on the list. The final major polls had the party below the threshold.

What the choice is really about

Under the party names, five questions keep coming back.

Accountability for October 7. Every major opposition party promises an independent state commission of inquiry. Netanyahu's government has resisted one and favors a politically appointed panel instead.

Who serves. The army is short of soldiers after three years of war. Nearly every party outside the Haredi lists now calls for universal service. The ultra-Orthodox parties are campaigning to make the exemption permanent law.

Democracy and the courts. The governing coalition argues that its judicial changes give power back to elected representatives. The opposition promises to reverse them and to protect the courts and a free press. Several opposition parties also propose a constitution, term limits for prime ministers and limits on criminal defendants serving as prime minister.

Security. On Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, the leading opposition parties are about as hawkish as Likud. No likely government would restart talks on a Palestinian state. The difference is in tone and limits. A government without Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism would likely do more to stop settler violence and unauthorized settlement building, and would focus more on the US plan to rebuild Gaza.

Who belongs in government. Arab citizens are about one in five Israelis. Whether their elected representatives can be partners in governing is still one of the hardest questions in Israeli politics, and this election may force an answer.

How to talk about it

When someone asks you who will win, the honest answer is that nobody knows yet, and the real decisions may come in coalition talks weeks from now. A better conversation starts somewhere else.

You might ask: "Which of these questions do you think matters most for Israel's future: accountability, shared service, the courts, security, or who gets a seat at the table?"

You might also notice that Israelis are not divided on everything. Nearly every Zionist party now supports some form of universal service. Most opposition parties, and some on the right, want a full inquiry into October 7. The parties that disagree most about the Palestinians often agree more than expected about Iran. Pointing to that shared ground is not naive. It is how democracies find a way forward after an election.

Whatever happens Tuesday night, Israelis will wake up Wednesday still sharing one small country, one army, one economy and one future. Our job in these conversations is not to win. It's to understand what Israelis are choosing between, and why the choice feels so heavy to them.

Sources

Updated November 2, 2026, with final results and coalition talks. Pre-election poll figures are the last published before the legal blackout on October 23.

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