World

Israel election exit polls point to deadlock: no bloc reaches a governing majority

Tel Aviv, Israel • October 27, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: an election night crowd in a Tel Aviv plaza watching large screens, Israeli flags in blue and white

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

No clear winner emerged in Israel's first election since Hamas' October 7, 2023 attacks, according to exit polls published after voting ended Tuesday night — setting up days, weeks or even months of coalition bargaining.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party was projected to remain the largest single party, with 24 to 25 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, but his right-wing and religious bloc stood at about 50 seats, according to the three major Israeli broadcasters' exit polls. The opposition bloc led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot was projected at 52 to 53 seats, with Eisenkot's Yashar party at 21 to 23 seats. Arab parties surged to a projected 17 to 18 seats, up sharply, putting them in a position to hold the balance of power.

Turnout was exceptionally high: USA Today reported at least 80 percent, a record, with 74.3 percent already recorded by 8 p.m. local time, two hours before polls closed. “If these are the final results, they would mark a victory,” Eisenkot said in a statement, while fellow opposition leader Yair Lapid called it “a total collapse” for Netanyahu's bloc. Netanyahu himself wrote on X during the day that “Muslim Brotherhood supporters are storming polling stations and stealing the election,” a claim Eisenkot said laid the groundwork to contest the results.

These are projections, not an official count: preliminary results were due as early as Wednesday, and the seat numbers can shift as ballots are tallied. President Isaac Herzog will face the immediate choice of whom to ask first to try to form a government — Netanyahu, as leader of the largest single party, or Eisenkot, as leader of the largest bloc. Neither side can reach the 61 seats needed without partners, and the opposition parties together with the Arab factions would hold a combined 70 seats — though that does not mean they would necessarily agree to govern together.

Sources: USA Today (Oct 27, 2026); Fox News (Oct 27, 2026); The Times of Israel via broadcast exit polls (Oct 27, 2026).