Tel Aviv: Israel’s parliamentary election may not produce any clear winner, with exit polls showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud emerging as the largest party, but the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot projected to win more seats than the ruling coalition in estimates by three major broadcasters.
The projections for Tuesday’s parliamentary election from Channel 13, Channel 12 and public broadcaster Kan put Netanyahu’s bloc at 50 seats in the 120-member Knesset, short of the 61 needed for a majority.
The opposition bloc is projected to win 52-53 seats, while Arab-led parties are expected to secure 17-18 seats.
Israel’s election has been viewed as a historic moment by voters across the political spectrum, with all blocs determined to make their voices heard.
More than 60,000 Israelis living abroad were estimated to have returned to cast their ballots in the country’s first election since the October 7, 2023, attacks.
Netanyahu, a seasoned politician, had kept his cards close to his chest, making it difficult to predict his next move to save his political career.
One of the notable results from the exit polls was that Likud remained the largest party, even as Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition appeared to have lost seats, partly because of weaker results for smaller right-wing parties.
Israeli society had also shifted significantly to the right over the years, with polls showing that younger voters predominantly identified with the right.
It remained to be seen how those votes were distributed and which parties benefited when the final results emerged.
A new exit poll from the Kan public broadcaster is also showing the Netanyahu and opposition blocs tied at 51 seats each.
Netanyahu’s Likud party is projected to gain two seats, rising to 27, and Eisenkot’s Yashar party is projected to lose one, falling to 21, the poll from Kan showed.
Earlier, Israel’s Channel 13 also published an updated exit poll giving the opposition and Netanyahu’s bloc both 51 seats.
Channel 13’s exit poll showed the Palestinian-Israeli parties still holding 18 seats.
