Netanyahu’s bloc falls well short of majority as his party claims Israel election ‘stolen’
Official tally shows Israeli PM’s coalition with 53 seats, main opposition with 48 and Arab-led parties with 19
Agence France-Presse
Published: 7:32am, 30 Oct 2026
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp finished ahead of the opposition but remained well short of a majority, final results from Israel’s general election showed on Friday, setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.
Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats.
The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats.
The results from the Central Elections Committee also cemented the emergence as potential kingmakers of the Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List, with the two winning a combined 19 seats.
The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.
The final tally came after Netanyahu’s camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote, accusations rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot. Photo: Reuters
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to “cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner”.
The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.
The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf power broker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.
“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Thursday.
Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a “campaign of incitement” out of fear of Arab voters’ growing political influence.
Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to “cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner”.
The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.
The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf power broker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.
“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Thursday.
Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a “campaign of incitement” out of fear of Arab voters’ growing political influence.
Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.
Israeli lawmaker Mansour Abbas, leader of the Raam party. Photo: AP
Opposition figures accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.
“He is trying to challenge the election results,” left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.
Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was “too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all”.
But he continued: “It’s already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election”.
Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.
Qatar called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, for years tacitly supported Qatar funding Hamas in Gaza, hoping to preserve stability, but that approach collapsed on October 7, 2023.
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, said that he is willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.
Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.
Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.
While coalition negotiations get under way, Netanyahu remains in charge as caretaker prime minister.
If Netanyahu loses office, that would set off a cascade of events that critics say he has desperately sought to avoid. He would be taken to account over years-long corruption allegations, and an inquiry almost certainly would begin into the security failures that led to the devastating Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
If a new government cannot be formed after multiple attempts, Israel would face a new election early next year. President Isaac Herzog has signalled he wants to avoid that step – a view shared by Eisenkot.
New elections bring new questions, including whether Arab citizens would again go to the polls in large numbers and whether the tens of thousands of Israelis who flew home to vote would do it again. Many had said they took that step to save the country from Netanyahu.
Opposition figures accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.
“He is trying to challenge the election results,” left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.
Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was “too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all”.
But he continued: “It’s already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election”.
Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.
Qatar called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, for years tacitly supported Qatar funding Hamas in Gaza, hoping to preserve stability, but that approach collapsed on October 7, 2023.
Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, said that he is willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.
Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.
Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.
While coalition negotiations get under way, Netanyahu remains in charge as caretaker prime minister.
If Netanyahu loses office, that would set off a cascade of events that critics say he has desperately sought to avoid. He would be taken to account over years-long corruption allegations, and an inquiry almost certainly would begin into the security failures that led to the devastating Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
If a new government cannot be formed after multiple attempts, Israel would face a new election early next year. President Isaac Herzog has signalled he wants to avoid that step – a view shared by Eisenkot.
New elections bring new questions, including whether Arab citizens would again go to the polls in large numbers and whether the tens of thousands of Israelis who flew home to vote would do it again. Many had said they took that step to save the country from Netanyahu.
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Satanyahu is notoriously known as a frigging LIAR
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