On a night when the country's first numbers refused to hand either side a clear victory, Israel found itself once again at a familiar crossroads: two camps of nearly equal strength, each claiming the meaning of the result, and a fragment of the electorate that may decide who governs. Exit polls from Channel 13 placed Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition at 51 seats apiece in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving both short of the 61 needed for a majority. The contest now moves from the ballot box to the bargaining table, where the parties that speak for Arab citizens of I
Netanyahu and Eisenkot Camps Dispute Exit Poll Results as Israeli Election Yields No Clear Majority
Neither camp reached a majority, and both claimed the night.
Mark
Both sides are at 51 seats. Why are both claiming victory?
Mimi
Because the tie lets each frame it. Eisenkot's camp says the projections show lost confidence in Netanyahu. Saar says Likud is still the largest single party. Each is pointing at a different fact.
Mark
Lapid called it a crushing defeat and a total collapse. Does 51-51 support that?
Luke
Not on its face. A tie isn't a collapse. That's a political statement, not something the numbers establish. The figures also came from Channel 13's exit polls, and the source notes they had narrowed.
Mark
So what do the Arab parties' 18 seats change?
Mimi
Everything, potentially. Without them, neither bloc gets near 61. Mansour Abbas has said he'll turn his mandate into a new reality, so he's signaling a role in the talks.
Luke
Careful, though. That's a stated intention. Nothing in the reporting says which bloc, if either, would work with Arab parties, or whether they'd agree to.
Mark
Turnout was 77.7 percent. Does that matter?
Mimi
Faten Gattas said high participation among Palestinian citizens of Israel was meant to block Netanyahu's return. That's how she explained it to supporters in Nazareth.
Luke
It's her interpretation. We don't have a breakdown of turnout by community here, so the claim can't be checked from this reporting.
Mark
What's still unknown?
Luke
The final results. Saar says they could shift the balance, and that's plausible but unproven. Until the count is done, every claim rests on exit polls.
O Pulso
- Exit polls tied both major blocs at 51 seats, and neither can govern without help from elsewhere.
- Opposition leaders declared a crushing defeat for Netanyahu while his allies called such claims premature.
- Eisenkot's supporters cheered at a Tel Aviv watch party as projections came in against the incumbent.
- Unaligned Arab parties, projected at 18 seats, now hold the key to any coalition built in the coming days.
- Turnout reached 77.7 percent, and final counts could still shift the numbers that both sides are quoting.
On a night when the country's first numbers refused to hand either side a clear victory, Israel found itself once again at a familiar crossroads: two camps of nearly equal strength, each claiming the meaning of the result, and a fragment of the electorate that may decide who governs. Exit polls from Channel 13 placed Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc and Gadi Eisenkot's opposition at 51 seats apiece in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving both short of the 61 needed for a majority. The contest now moves from the ballot box to the bargaining table, where the parties that speak for Arab citizens of Israel may hold the balance.
When voting closed in Israel, the first figures from Channel 13 gave neither camp a win. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition and the opposition bloc of Gadi Eisenkot were each projected at 51 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Unaligned Arab parties were expected to take 18, which leaves both sides 10 seats short of a majority. Turnout hit 77.7 percent.
Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff who leads the Yashar party, told supporters that the numbers showed a "complete lack of confidence" in Netanyahu's government. In Tel Aviv, his crowd cheered as the projections arrived. Yair Lapid went further, calling the result a crushing defeat for Netanyahu, even though the figures showed a tie.
Netanyahu's allies pushed back. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the opposition's claims premature and pointed out that Likud is still the largest single party. Arab leaders, meanwhile, spoke of their own weight. Mansour Abbas of the United Arab List said his mandate would bring a new reality, and Faten Gattas of the Joint List told supporters in Nazareth that high Palestinian turnout was meant to block Netanyahu's return.
These are exit polls, not final results, and analysts expect smaller parties to decide the outcome. Coalition talks are set to begin in the coming days, and the official count will show whether the tie holds.
When voting closed in Israel, the first numbers from Channel 13 told neither side it had won. Updated exit poll figures put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led coalition at 51 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. The opposition bloc led by challenger Gadi Eisenkot was also at 51.
The arithmetic leaves both camps stuck. Unaligned Arab parties were projected to hold 18 seats, which puts each major bloc 10 seats short of the 61 needed for an absolute majority. Turnout, according to the Central Elections Committee, reached 77.7 percent.
Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff who heads the Yashar party, spoke to supporters once polls closed. The initial projections, he said, showed a "complete lack of confidence in Netanyahu and the October 7 government," as reported by the AFP news agency. At his watch party in Tel Aviv, supporters cheered the projections as they came in.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid went further. "Don't let anyone confuse you: the Netanyahu bloc has suffered a crushing defeat," he said in a statement, calling the outcome a total collapse and saying the public had told the government to go home. That reading sits awkwardly beside a projected tie, but it was the line the opposition chose to take, and it came despite figures that had narrowed.
Netanyahu's side pushed back. Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister and a key Netanyahu ally, called the opposition's declarations premature. Writing on social media, he noted that Likud remained the largest single party in parliament, and senior figures in the camp argued the final results could shift the balance.
Arab political leaders, meanwhile, pointed to the role their seats might play. Mansour Abbas, who leads the United Arab List (Ra'am), told reporters, "We will transform the mandate we received into a new reality in the country." At the Joint List alliance headquarters in Nazareth, candidate Faten Gattas told supporters that high participation among Palestinian citizens of Israel was meant to block the return of Netanyahu's nationalist coalition. "We refuse the occupation and racism, and we will remain here," she said, according to Reuters.
These are exit poll projections, not final counts, and both camps are building their public arguments on numbers that could still move. Political analysts told Al Jazeera that with neither bloc near a governing majority, smaller parties are likely to be the deciders. Formal coalition talks are expected to begin in the coming days, and the final tally will show whether the tie holds.
Citações Notáveis
Don't let anyone confuse you: the Netanyahu bloc has suffered a crushing defeat.— Yair Lapid, opposition leader
Saar called the opposition's claims premature and said Likud remains the largest single party in parliament.— Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister
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Politics & Governance