Israel's election: the count is complete and Netanyahu is short, so the fight moves to certification and coalition talks

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By TRH World Desk

Israel Election Count Complete: Netanyahu 53, Opposition 67, as Likud’s “Stolen” Claim Delays Certification

New Delhi, October 30, 2026 — Israel’s count is finished, and it confirms a deadlock. What happens next turns less on the votes than on the process. Certification is days away and Likud is contesting the result, while the opposition explores whether it can govern with Arab parties.

The Times of Israel reported on Thursday evening that with 99.9 per cent of ballots counted, including the 430,000 to 480,000 double-envelope votes, Netanyahu’s bloc had 53 seats, eight short of a majority.

Its bloc of Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism lost 15 seats from the outgoing Knesset. Eisenkot’s bloc won 48 and Arab parties 19, which Haaretz sums as an opposition of 67. Reports on the final distribution put Likud at 27 seats and Yashar at 21.

The Central Elections Committee said official results would follow on Wednesday, after an additional integrity review.

Likud’s statement that the election was “stolen” by Arab parties, which came with foreign-interference allegations, is the main new development. The party offered no evidence. The Globe and Mail reported that Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg wrote to the Shin Bet that he could not verify the claims.

Eisenkot said Likud was trying to delegitimize the results, and President Isaac Herzog urged a thorough probe while warning against stigmatising Arab citizens.

Haaretz also reported that Zehut leader Moshe Feiglin called for publication of the final count to be halted until the Shin Bet finishes its inquiry. The review the committee announced is why official results are not out yet.

Haaretz reported that the heads of the Democrats and the United Arab List are discussing options for forming a government, and its editorial argued the opposition should form one with the Arab parties.

That is the only route to 61 that does not rely on defectors. It is also the route Likud’s fraud narrative targets.

The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post have separately reported that a unity government is unlikely, since Eisenkot has rejected serving under Netanyahu in any arrangement, including a rotation.

Key Cues That May Open the Knot

– Certification: whether the results are certified and handed to Herzog on schedule next week.

– The Shin Bet inquiry: what, if anything, it finds on the interference suspicion.

– Herzog’s consultations: who is invited to try to form a government first.

– Ben-Gvir: Ynet reported, citing sources, that Trump wants Itamar Ben-Gvir kept out of the next government.

The count answered the arithmetic question: no one has 61. It did not answer the political one. The dispute over whether Arab-party votes can count toward a government now shapes every path, and the next week’s decisions on certification and Herzog’s mandate will show whether the fraud claim fades or hardens.