Tel Aviv – Israel’s election result is too close to call, with Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc neck and neck with Benjamin Natanyahu’s camp in two exit polls; a third puts the PM’s camp marginally ahead – both have fallen short of a majority
Eisenkot leads the newly formed Yashar party and is the main figure in the “change bloc”, a group of opposition parties with the shared goal of ousting Netanyahu
The exit polls also suggest Netanyahu’s Likud party is set to be the biggest single party in the Israeli parliament
Netanyahu says a “strong” right-wing government must be formed, while Eisenkot tells supporters that Israel voted to end Netanyahu’s term
Official results started being released from midnight local time (22:00 GMT), but counting could take days
All 120 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, are up for grabs, but no party has ever won a majority and in the past governments have been made up of coalitions.
How a government formed in Israel
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No party has ever won an outright majority, which means a coalition government has always been formed.
This process begins after the votes have been counted and Israel’s president will consult with party leaders, and then invite whichever leader he believes has the best chance of forming a government.
That candidate then has 28 days to form a coalition, although they can request a 14-day extension if extra time is needed.
If negotiations fail within this period, the president can choose another candidate to try to form their own coalition.
If that also fails, Knesset members can ask the president to allow a third leader to try. And if that’s unsuccessful, new elections will be called.
Between 2019 and 2022, Israel held five separate elections as parties struggled time and again to co-operate.
Following the 2022 elections, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud emerged as the biggest party, winning 32 of the 120 seats. He later formed a coalition with several far-right parties, which gave him and his allies a majority of 64 seats.
