Israel Election Deadlock Leaves Netanyahu's Future Open

Israel's October 27 parliamentary election has produced no clear majority, leaving the political future of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu uncertain. According to Al Jazeera, his right-wing coalition won 53 seats, while the opposition alliance led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot took 48.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has 120 seats, and a majority requires 61. The remaining 19 seats went to the two Arab-led lists, the Joint List and Ra'am (United Arab List). Both recorded their best-ever electoral performance, boosted by an unprecedented surge in voter turnout.

Final results published by the government on its Gov.il website put turnout at 77.9%, with 5,716,665 votes counted. No other list passed the election threshold, the minimum share of the vote a party needs to win seats.

Netanyahu's coalition had held 64 seats before the vote, according to Reuters, and exit polls on election day showed the result deadlocked. Netanyahu and Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party, each staked rival claims to lead the country afterwards.

Netanyahu's Likud party mooted refusing to recognise the results, citing claims of irregularities in the Arab vote. Police investigated those claims and discounted them, while a separate probe by Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, remains ongoing. Reuters reported that Netanyahu was set to stay on in a caretaker role, meaning he remains in office on a temporary basis.

The results are due to be certified on Wednesday, and talks on forming a governing coalition are to begin only after that. President Isaac Herzog will then consult all parties to determine which Knesset member is best placed to form a government. Opposition leaders said after a meeting on Tuesday that they were preparing to act immediately to replace Netanyahu's coalition with a national emergency government.