Israel’s national election shows a very close race between Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot, with both sides searching for majorities.
The election results in Israel are still coming in slowly, and early reports show that long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party have performed better than many experts predicted.
His group of religious and national political partners is currently close to reaching the sixty-one seats needed to control the 120 seat parliament.
However, political experts warn that these initial results could change because the early counts came from places where many right-wing voters live.
Voters turned out in large numbers across Israel, with more than seventy-seven percent of eligible citizens casting their ballots.
The high turnout shows how important this election is for the country. Because Israel has many different political groups, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s main challenger, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, will find it difficult to form a majority government without getting help from political parties that represent Arab citizens. These Arab parties have won or kept a high number of seats compared to past elections.
During the political campaigns, most Jewish political groups opposed to Netanyahu promised that they would not work with Arab-led parties because they claimed they do not share the same beliefs.
However, these Arab-led parties could now decide who gets to form the next government if other political groups choose to team up with them.
Arab citizens make up one-fifth of the Israeli population, and they came out to vote in very large numbers during this election.
Many voters viewed the election as a crucial chance to replace the government, complaining that current leadership promoted division and unfair treatment.
Many votes are still uncounted. Thousands of ballots cast by military soldiers and absent voters have not been opened yet, meaning the final official results will not be clear for a day or two.
Both political leaders spoke to their followers late at night, with each leader expressing confidence that he will build the next government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed his happy supporters, but he did not declare full victory.
Speaking to the crowd, Benjamin Netanyahu said:
“The right-wing bloc has a clear, decisive majority among the Zionist public, among the Jewish public and all those who support the Jewish state. That is what has become clear. A decisive majority.”
He added:
“We must form a strong, national, right-wing government. That is what must be done.”
On the other side, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot spoke to members of his Yashar party after initial television polls suggested a good showing for his group.
Addressing his supporters, Gadi Eisenkot said:
“The public has chosen change.”
He continued by stating:
“The coalition of failure has lost the people’s trust. The Israeli public voted against Benjamin Netanyahu continuing as prime minister.”
Eisenkot promised to work fast, adding:
“I will work with my partners to ensure that the people’s decision is translated into a Zionist government: stable and good for all of Israeli’s citizens. And quickly, because that is what this moment demands, and because the country needs to be brought back together.”
These election events highlight deep divisions among the people of Israel. The election acted as a judgment on Netanyahu’s leadership while he faces trial over court charges, as well as a decision on the nation’s future path.
The current governing group has led the nation toward more religious and national policies. Before major security attacks and wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran began in October 2023, many citizens held public protests against government plans to change the court systems. Meanwhile, many citizens want the nation to stick to secular and open principles.
Despite four difficult years, voting habits among citizens have not changed very much. Professor Tamar Hermann, a public opinion analyst at the Israel Democracy Institute, explained before the voting took place:
“We see in the polls, that the relative weight of the two main sides: pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu is about the same. People expected that after October 7th, Netanyahu will be down the drain or even toppled but it didn’t happen.”
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Political leaders are already holding private discussions to gain support and assemble a working coalition. Explaining how this works, veteran journalist and writer Yaakov Katz stated:
“Each side will try to pull over defectors, or will try to see if they can make a minority government and will try all these different political kinds of wizardry. But it might not work, and it could take weeks or months to see if someone is actually capable of forming a government.”
A big question remains whether the opposition group will make a deal with Arab-led parties. Right-wing opposition leader Avigdor Lieberman stated on the campaign trail that he would not join a government that depends on Arab parties, showing the high tension following recent conflicts.
However, Mansour Abbas, head of the Ra’am Arab political list, said he wants to join the next governing coalition.
Speaking about potential partnerships, Mansour Abbas said:
“These are familiar and well-known party-political considerations. All politicians in Israel say one thing before elections and speak a different language after elections. We have experienced this before, and it does not concern us.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his partners continue to criticize the Arab parties, describing them as unsafe for the nation’s leadership.
When final official results are verified, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog will meet with all party leaders and ask the person with the best chance of forming a majority to start building a government.
If that leader fails within six weeks, another person will get a chance. If no one succeeds in creating a government, the country will hold new elections, while Netanyahu continues to lead in a temporary role without making major new decisions.
Jennifer Baba is a journalist, international news correspondent, and writer at Moderncrux, where she covers artificial intelligence, fintech, emerging technologies, global politics, and international affairs. Based in Nigeria, she is passionate about transforming complex global developments into clear, engaging stories that inform and inspire readers.
