Israel Certifies Election Results, Rejecting Fraud Claims

Last updated 5 November 2026 at 16:00 PKT. President Isaac Herzog's consultations with party leaders continue in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Israel's Central Elections Committee has certified the results of the October 27 parliamentary election, rejecting claims of widespread fraud and confirming a hung parliament in which no bloc holds the 61 seats needed to govern the 120-seat Knesset. The results were formally submitted to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, who has begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government.

The certification was a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose bloc lost its parliamentary majority in the vote, and to his supporters' efforts to discredit the outcome. The committee said it had conducted a thorough investigation of the fraud claims and found "no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results".

What the commission decided

The committee, chaired by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, reviewed 9,069 polling stations as part of its examination of the complaints, according to the committee's findings reported by multiple outlets. It concluded that nothing it found could have changed the outcome of the election.

Justice Sohlberg warned that those casting doubt on the results posed "a real danger" to Israel's democracy, a message aimed at the prime minister's allies, who have repeatedly claimed — without presenting evidence — that the Arab-led parties "stole" the election, possibly with foreign assistance.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials over the fraud claims, saying there was no supporting evidence to justify it.

The numbers: a parliament with no majority

The final seat allocation, confirmed by the committee, leaves three blocs short of the 61-seat threshold:

Bloc	Seats (of 120)	Leader
Netanyahu's religious-nationalist bloc	53	Benjamin Netanyahu
Opposition bloc	48	Gadi Eisenkot
Arab-led parties (Ra'am and the Joint List)	19	—

Netanyahu's Likud remains the largest single party, with 27 seats, followed by Eisenkot's Yashar party with 21 and Naftali Bennett's B'Yachad with 12, according to the Central Elections Committee. Voter turnout was 77.7 percent, up 7.1 percentage points from the 2022 election.

The arithmetic is tight. Even if every party in Netanyahu's bloc backed him, he would still be eight seats short of a majority. Eisenkot's bloc, at 48 seats, needs 13 more — a gap only the Arab-led parties, with their record 19 seats, can close.

What happens next

President Herzog has begun two days of consultations with representatives of every elected party. He met delegations on Wednesday, including representatives of Religious Zionism, Zehut, Shas and Yisrael Beytenu, and said he had "received their recommendations regarding the identity of the Knesset member upon whom the task of forming the government should be assigned". Eight more parties, including the two Arab-led factions, were scheduled to meet him on Thursday, with Eisenkot's Yashar party and Netanyahu's Likud going last.

Once the 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.

"The elections are over. Now is the time to face reality." — President Isaac Herzog, accepting the certified results

Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid a new election, telling party leaders they must accept that "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled". He added: "In the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner."

The kingmakers: the Arab-led parties

The most consequential development of the consultations so far came from Ra'am, one of the two Arab-led parties, which said it would recommend Eisenkot for prime minister. That brought his expected support to 56 lawmakers, according to the Israeli news site Ynet — still five short of a majority, but closer than any other path.

The other Arab-led party, the Joint List, which holds 11 seats, has not yet announced its position. Israel's Channel 12 reported that the party was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, endorsing him if asked or abstaining if he preferred. Its seats could push him past 61.

Netanyahu's position, by contrast, may be weaker than his 53 seats suggest. Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism's seven seats, said it would recommend neither candidate. The ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu over his coalition's failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service, according to The Times of Israel.

The fraud claims — and the response

Netanyahu and his supporters have spent the week since the vote claiming the election was stolen, focusing their accusations on the Arab-led parties' historic gains. No evidence has been presented to support the claims, and the elections committee's review of all 9,069 polling stations found nothing that compromised the integrity of the vote.

Herzog also addressed the tone of the debate directly, saying he had "great respect" for Israel's Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population, and condemning "the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently". He backed investigating any suspected interference but warned against smearing Palestinian-Israeli voters.

The dispute has echoes beyond Israel. United States President Donald Trump, who endorsed Netanyahu, said he would accept the outcome of the American midterm elections despite Republican losses — while Netanyahu continued to dispute his own country's certified results.

Frequently asked questions

Who won the Israeli election?

No one won outright. Netanyahu's bloc finished first with 53 seats, Eisenkot's opposition bloc won 48, and the Arab-led parties won a record 19. No bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

Was there fraud in the election?

Israel's Central Elections Committee investigated the fraud claims and found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results. The committee reviewed 9,069 polling stations.

Who will be the next prime minister?

That is not yet decided. President Herzog is consulting all parties and will then task the candidate he considers best placed to form a coalition — almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. The nominee gets 28 days, plus a possible 14-day extension.

Could Israel hold another election?

Yes. If neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot can assemble a 61-seat coalition within the allotted time, Israel would hold another election early next year.

Why do the Arab-led parties matter so much?

Ra'am and the Joint List won a record 19 seats between them — the largest Arab representation in Israel's history. Neither major bloc can reach 61 without them, giving them a decisive role in the coalition negotiations for the first time.

What to watch next

The consultations conclude on Thursday, with the Arab-led parties, Eisenkot's Yashar and Netanyahu's Likud meeting Herzog last. Watch for the Joint List's recommendation — it is the single decision most likely to determine who gets the mandate — and for whether Degel HaTorah's refusal to endorse either candidate hardens into a broader ultra-Orthodox break with Netanyahu. Herzog's choice of candidate, expected within days, will set the 28-day clock running on the hardest coalition negotiation in Israel's recent history.