Live Updates: Opposition Holds Slim Lead Over Netanyahu’s Coalition in Israeli Elections — SkimNews
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- Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition bloc held a narrow lead over Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition in updated exit polls from Israel’s mainstream television networks, although the first polls had Likud ahead and no side reached the 61 seats needed for a majority.
- Likud was projected to win 24 seats, up from roughly 20 in pre-election surveys, with the four additional seats coming at the expense of Netanyahu’s allies rather than the opposition bloc.
- Raam was part of a projected 17-or-18-seat showing by the two Arab parties, their strongest ever and above their previous high of 15, with some opposition figures resisting reliance on their support after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
- Isaac Herzog will invite the party leader he believes has the best chance to assemble a governing coalition after official totals and seat allocation; the coalition requires at least 61 lawmakers.
- An estimated 600,000 special ballots at military bases, hospitals, prisons and embassies—about 10% of eligible voters—were not reflected in exit polls, with results not expected before Thursday; those votes leaned toward Netanyahu’s coalition in the previous election.
- Naftali Bennett said Netanyahu had lost and the “government of Oct. 7” would go home, while the anti-Netanyahu parties pledged to prioritize military conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews; he did not say whether that demand would extend to Likud or Arab parties.
- Bezalel Smotrich called Arab parties illegitimate if they could not condemn the Oct. 7 massacre or would not declare Hamas a terrorist organization, delegitimizing a potential source of parliamentary support for an anti-Netanyahu coalition.
Why it matters: Neither camp has the 61 seats needed to govern, and Netanyahu’s path is narrower than Likud’s 24-seat showing indicates: Smotrich dismisses Arab parties as illegitimate even as they are projected at 17–18 seats. Roughly 600,000 special ballots—about 10% of eligible voters—were outside the exit polls, with results not due before Thursday.
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