Exit polls show Eisenkot bloc wins 53 seats, Netanyahu's bloc stays at 50 in Israeli election

In Israeli elections that closed at 22:00 local time, the opposition bloc led by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot secured 53 seats according to exit polls from state broadcaster KAN, while the ruling bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained at 50 seats.

According to KAN's preliminary results, Netanyahu's Likud Party came in first place among individual parties with 25 seats. Eisenkot's Yashar Party came second with 21 seats. The distribution of other opposition bloc parties is as follows: Bennett and Lapid's Unity List won 14 seats, Yair Golan's Democrats won 10, Avigdor Liberman's Israel Our Home Party won 8 seats.

On the ruling side, the ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism each won 6 seats, Itamar Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power won 7, and Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism Party won 6 seats.

From Arab lists, the Joint List won 10 seats and Mansur Abbas's Raam won 7 seats, bringing total Arab representation to 17 seats. In the elections, where Israeli Palestinians demonstrated high turnout, these two Arab lists sent a combined 17 seats to the Knesset.

To form a government in the 120-seat Knesset, 61 seats are required. The opposition fell 8 seats short of this threshold. Voter turnout was measured at 74.3 percent as of 20:00 local time; this rate surpassed the total turnout from 2022 before polls closed and is the highest rate recorded at this time of day since 1988. Turnout rates calculated in earlier time slots were the highest figures recorded at those times since 1973, when hourly measurements began.

Experts assess that high voter turnout may cause some parties that narrowly exceed the 3.25 percent election threshold to fall below it, and this could affect Knesset mathematics. Following objections, final results are expected to be announced within 8 days at the latest.