The election is largely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu\u2019s handling of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks and Israel\u2019s ensuing genocidal war on Gaza, as well as the attacks on Lebanon and Iran.<\/p>\n
An inconclusive result would leave Israel in political limbo, allowing Netanyahu to remain in power in a caretaker capacity while parties try to forge a governing coalition.<\/p>\n
![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/reuters_6ae12045-1793138757.jpg\")
Supporters of Israel\u2019s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, react to exit polls at the party\u2019s election headquarters in Modiin, Israel, on October 27, 2026 [Rami Shlush\/Reuters]\u2018Crushing defeat\u2019<\/p>\n
According to two exit polls published by Israeli media after Tuesday\u2019s vote, the two blocs were deadlocked on 51 seats, while a third exit poll showed Netanyahu\u2019s bloc was three seats ahead.<\/p>\n
Netanyahu was defiant early on Wednesday, aiming to position himself to remain the country\u2019s longest-serving prime minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must establish a strong, right-wing, nationalist government,\u201d said Netanyahu. \u201cWe must not endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenkot said the exit polls showed a \u201clack of confidence\u201d in the current prime minister.<\/p>\n
Yair Lapid, the current opposition leader, echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let anyone confuse you,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Netanyahu bloc has suffered a crushing defeat. This is a total collapse, and the public has told them to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yair Golan, the leader of the opposition Democrats, meanwhile said Israeli voters have \u201cfired the Netanyahu government\u201d, pledging to work with political partners to form a new administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have received a historic opportunity to establish a true government of change in Israel and we have no intention of giving it up,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
But Gideon Saar, Israel\u2019s foreign minister and a member of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party, said the opposition\u2019s celebrations were premature.<\/p>\n
In a social media post, he criticised the \u201cpronouncements of biased commentators\u201d and said: \u201cLikud is the largest party in Israel. It is always good to learn something from the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netanyahu, the 77-year-old head of Likud, has served as prime minister for nearly 19 of the past 30 years and has repeatedly survived political crises. His opponents have managed to wrest the premiership from him only once since 2009, after four inconclusive elections in two years.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties, supporters erupted in whistles and applause as the exit polls were published, capping a night of historic turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel.<\/p>\n
Yousef Jabareen, leader of the Joint List, called the election a \u201chistoric day\u201d and said voters had delivered a \u201cclear and sharp\u201d message. \u201cThe \u2018government of bloodshed\u2019 must go!\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have proven that we are a political force that cannot be ignored, and that a future here cannot be built without our voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mansour Abbas, the leader of Ra\u2019am, or the United Arab List, also hailed the projected results. \u201cWe will transform the mandate we received into a new reality in the country,\u201d Abbas told reporters, according to Israel\u2019s Channel 12.<\/p>\n
While the exit polls suggest the Arab-led parties could emerge as kingmakers, both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have ruled out partnering with the parties, citing a lack of shared values.<\/p>\n
\u2018Difficult task\u2019 ahead<\/p>\n
Ehab Jabareen, a Palestinian political analyst and researcher in Israel, told Al Jazeera that early exit poll projections show \u201ca clear weakening of Netanyahu\u2019s bloc\u201d but cautioned against \u201cdeclaring either a Netanyahu victory or the end of his political career\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe exit polls suggest that his bloc has lost its majority, but they also suggest that his opponents face a difficult task in building one,\u201d he said. \u201cIf neither side can form a government, Netanyahu could remain in office as caretaker while the negotiations continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polling stations had closed at 10pm local time (20:00 GMT).<\/p>\n
The Central Elections Committee said some 77.7 percent of eligible voters \u2013 or more than 5.69 million of about 7.33 million voters \u2013 cast their ballots in Tuesday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
The figure is about 7.1 percentage points higher than the 70.63 percent recorded in the 2022 election and the highest turnout in a Knesset election since 1999, when 78.7 percent of eligible voters participated.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, the committee rejected a request from Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party to extend voting hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Partial results and exit polls from Israel\u2019s parliamentary election show no clear winner, with neither the bloc led…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10537,3411,43,1258,203808,324798,21751,1259,44,23156,714,41,39,42,40,206083],"class_list":["post-949231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-elections","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-israel-attacks-lebanon","tag-israel-election-2026","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-politics","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-israel-war-on-iran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}