{"id":663785,"date":"2026-11-01T16:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T16:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/663785\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T16:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T16:38:08","slug":"israel-election-when-will-government-be-formed-who-will-lead-it-israel-election-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/663785\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel election: When will government be formed, who will lead it? | Israel Election 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his coalition\u2019s parliamentary majority following legislative elections<\/a> on October 27.<\/p>\n

But a bloc of Jewish parties opposing Netanyahu also failed to win a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, leaving Israel without a clear path to a new government.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

What\u2019s ahead is likely weeks of political wrangling as Israel\u2019s disparate factions weigh possible governing arrangements, including a unity government bringing rival factions together or a minority government reliant on outside support. If they fail to reach an agreement, Israel could head back to the polls.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you should know:<\/p>\n

What are the final results of Israel\u2019s elections?<\/p>\n

The pro-Netanyahu coalition won 53 seats:<\/p>\n

Likud \u2013 27
\nUnited Torah Judaism \u2013 7
\nOtzma Yehudit \u2013 7
\nShas \u2013 6
\nReligious Zionism \u2013 6<\/p>\n

A bloc of Jewish parties opposing Netanyahu won 48 seats:<\/p>\n

Yashar \u2013 21
\nB\u2019Yachad \u2013 12
\nThe Democrats \u2013 8
\nYisrael Beytenu \u2013 7<\/p>\n

Arab-led parties won 19 seats:<\/p>\n

Joint List \u2013 11
\nRa\u2019am \u2013 8<\/p>\n

That leaves all existing blocs short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the Knesset, meaning some parties would have to realign or join forces across bloc lines to form a new government.<\/p>\n

What happens next?<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s election results must be officially certified and presented to President Isaac Herzog by November 4.<\/p>\n

The new Knesset is scheduled to be sworn in on November 10.<\/p>\n

Herzog must task one incoming Knesset member with forming a new government by November 11. He is expected to make his decision with input from party leaders, selecting the candidate he believes has the best chance of building a coalition.<\/p>\n

The candidate commissioned by Herzog has 28 days to form a coalition, with a possible extension of 14 days.<\/p>\n

Who will Herzog nominate first to form a government?<\/p>\n

He has not said yet, but the most likely candidates are Netanyahu or former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot, whose Yashar party received the most votes in the opposition bloc.<\/p>\n

According to Israel\u2019s Yedioth Ahronoth media, Eisenkot may have an edge over Netanyahu as some Arab-led parties consider endorsing him in a bid to oust Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

Herzog, for his part, has urged Israeli politicians to move away from rigid partisan stances and look for \u201ccreative solutions\u201d that will lead to a new government and avoid a second round of elections.<\/p>\n

Before the election, Herzog said he would do everything he could to spare the country another election cycle, even if that means pressing for a national unity government that brings together rivals Netanyahu and Eisenkot.<\/p>\n

Could the opposition bloc join forces with Arab-led parties?<\/p>\n

It is unclear.<\/p>\n

Eisenkot and other opposition leaders have previously ruled out partnering with the Arab-led parties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, however, has said he believes they \u201ccan change their mind\u201d, arguing that Netanyahu would do in their position.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Netanyahu had a similar problem, he would immediately invite Mansour Abbas\u201d, the leader of Ra\u2019am and \u201cgive him the role of a minister of interior\u201d, Barak told France 24 on Friday.<\/p>\n

Abbas himself has signalled a willingness to work the opposition camp, saying Eisenkot\u2019s conditions would not pose an obstacle for his party, according to Israel\u2019s Channel 12.<\/p>\n

Yousef Jabareen from the Arab-led Joint List has also said that his party is ready for the \u201cousting of the Netanyahu government\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Even if Arab-led parties do not formally join the opposition\u2019s coalition, they could prop it up from outside by helping it pass a confidence vote in the Knesset.<\/p>\n

Raluca Ganea, co-founder of Israeli civil society group Zazim, told Al Jazeera that a coalition between the opposition bloc and the Arab-led parties representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel \u201cis the only path forward for Israeli democracy as a whole\u201d.<\/p>\n

What happens if no one can form a government?<\/p>\n

If Herzog\u2019s first candidate fails to form a government within the 42 days, the Israeli president has the option of asking<\/a> another Knesset member to try to do so within 28 days. If that candidate also fails, a majority of Knesset members could put forward a third candidate, who would have a final 14 days to try to assemble one.<\/p>\n

Even without a coalition commanding at least 61 seats, a candidate could still try to form a minority government by relying on outside support from smaller parties, including Arab-led parties, or negotiate a power-sharing arrangement with alternating prime ministers.<\/p>\n

If none of these options succeed and deadlock persists, the Knesset would be formally dissolved, and Israelis would return to the polls for another round of elections.<\/p>\n

Those elections would have to be called within 90 days.<\/p>\n

Who is in charge in the meantime?<\/p>\n

Netanyahu stays on as caretaker prime minister<\/a> until a new government is formed.<\/p>\n

If the process drags out, that could leave Israel\u2019s longest-serving prime minister in power for months more, even if he ultimately fails to become part of the next governing coalition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his coalition\u2019s parliamentary majority following legislative elections on October 27. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,85,46,286552,44,47,43,6803,238],"class_list":["post-663785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-election-2026","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-news-analysis","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}