Israeli political leaders traded sharp reactions on October 28, 2026, to exit poll projections showing no clear winner between the country’s main political blocs following a high-turnout national election.
Updated figures broadcast by Channel 13 showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition tied at 51 seats with the opposition bloc led by challenger Gadi Eisenkot in the 120-seat Knesset. Voter turnout reached 77.7 percent, according to the Central Elections Committee.
Despite the narrower exit poll figures and the deadlock, opposition leaders insisted the outcome represented a decisive defeat for the government. Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party and a former military chief of staff, told supporters after voting closed that the initial projections demonstrated a complete lack of confidence in Netanyahu and the October 7 government. Eisenkot and his wife Hannah had earlier cast their ballots at a polling station in Herzliya.
Other opposition figures echoed the sentiment. Yair Lapid issued a statement telling supporters not to let anyone cause confusion, asserting that the Netanyahu bloc had suffered a crushing defeat. Lapid described the outcome as a total collapse and stated that the public had told the government to go home.
Under the updated figures, unaligned Arab parties were projected to hold 18 seats. This left both major political camps 10 seats short of the 61 seats required for an absolute majority in the parliament, positioning smaller factions and Arab parties as critical deciders in upcoming coalition negotiations.
Senior figures in Netanyahu’s camp pushed back strongly against opposition declarations, arguing that the final certified results could shift the balance. Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister and a key Netanyahu ally, dismissed the opposition statements as premature. In a social media post, Saar emphasized that Likud remained the largest single party in the parliament.
Meanwhile, leaders of Arab political factions highlighted their potential influence in the forming political landscape. Mansour Abbas, leader of the United Arab List, known as Ra’am, told reporters that his faction would transform the mandate received from voters into a new reality in the country.
At the Joint List alliance headquarters in Nazareth, candidate Faten Gattas addressed supporters and noted that high participation among Palestinian citizens of Israel was aimed at blocking the return of Netanyahu’s nationalist coalition. Gattas stated that they refuse the occupation and racism and intend to remain in the country. With neither major camp reaching a governing majority, formal coalition talks are expected to begin in the coming days as parties navigate the fractured parliament.
