Haifa, Israel
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Oct. 27, 2026, 6:09 p.m. ET
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3 min read
Exit polls from Tuesday’s parliamentary elections indicated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party secured the largest share of votes. However, the anti-Netanyahu bloc, led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, held a lead across all three exit polls released Tuesday night by Israeli television networks.
The projections suggest a potential political deadlock, as neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor his opponents appear to have secured the 61-seat majority required to govern in the 120-seat Knesset.
The vote marked Israel’s first national election since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing wars. Voter turnout reached 77.7% by the close of polls, the highest since the 1999 election, officials said. Exit polls pointed to declining support for Netanyahu’s ruling coalition and a surge in backing for parties representing Arab citizens, who constitute roughly 22% of the population.
According to projections from Israel’s three major television networks, the opposition bloc headed by former army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot would capture 52 or 53 seats, compared with 50 for Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies. The predominantly Arab Joint List and the Islamist Ra’am party were forecast to win an unprecedented 17 or 18 seats combined. Turnout in Arab communities such as Rahat and Sakhnin reportedly approached 80%.
Shir Torem/Reuters
Former Israeli military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party, shares a moment with his grandson, as he votes during the national election, in Herzliya, Israel, Oct. 27, 2026.
Nevertheless, Likud outperformed pre-election polls and was on track to be the largest single party with 24 or 25 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
Eisenkot, who leads the center-right Yashar party, stated that the exit polls reflected “an absolute lack of confidence in Netanyahu and the government responsible for October 7 among the majority of Israeli citizens.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, a senior Likud figure, countered on social media that “the celebrations on the left are premature.”
Arab civil society groups and political activists mounted a major voter mobilization drive, spurred by a surge in violent crime in Arab communities under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, following low turnout in the 2022 election.
Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said the exit polls made clear that “this radical government cannot continue.”
Polls closed at 10 p.m. local time Tuesday. Official results were expected to trickle in overnight as ballots were counted at stations nationwide, a process that could extend into Friday.
Jewel Samad/Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits on a bench after voting at a polling station in Jerusalem, Oct. 27, 2026.
Israelis will not know until Wednesday whether a coalition aimed at unseating the country’s longest-serving prime minister has succeeded, failed, or left the nation in deadlock — possibly triggering repeat elections, as occurred in recent years.
The election was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s leadership. For over three years, he has resisted calls for a state commission of inquiry into the intelligence failures surrounding the October 7 attack, which killed approximately 1,200 people.
Netanyahu’s campaign posters featured former U.S. President Donald Trump, who endorsed the prime minister roughly a week before the vote. Exit polls indicated the incumbent faced a strong challenge from Eisenkot, who ran on a platform of restoring governmental integrity and charting a new course for Israel.
