Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has accepted the certified results of the 27 October 2026 parliamentary election and has begun consultations with party leaders about who should be tasked with forming the next government. The consultations began on Wednesday night.
Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition nor the bloc led by opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot reached the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats, while Eisenkot’s bloc won 48.
The Arab-led parties Ra’am and the Joint List together won a record 19 seats, a result that could make their support decisive. The possibilities that remain open include an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties, or an alliance between the two rival blocs.
Ra’am said it would recommend Eisenkot, which Ynet reported would bring his expected support to 56 lawmakers, still short of a majority. The Joint List, which holds 11 seats, had not announced its position. Channel 12 reported that it was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, endorsing him if asked or abstaining if he preferred, a step that could take him past 61.
Eight more parties, including the two Arab-led factions, were scheduled to meet Herzog on Thursday, with Eisenkot’s Yashar party and Netanyahu’s Likud going last. Three factions aligned with Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist base recommended him, while a fourth led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival backed Eisenkot. Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism’s seven seats, said it would recommend neither candidate.
Israel’s elections commission said that, after a thorough investigation of fraud claims, it found “no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results”. Netanyahu and his supporters had made unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen.
Once consultations end, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best placed to assemble a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his decision. The nominee will then have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension. If neither man succeeds, Israel would hold another election early next year.
Herzog said: “The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality.”
Source: Al Jazeera
