File photo: Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s Likud party is projected to emerge as the largest party in the Knesset, but opposition parties led by Gadi Eisenkot are ahead as a bloc, with neither side securing a clear path to a parliamentary majority, according to exit polls by Channels 12, 13 and public broadcaster Kan. Kan projects Likud to win 25 seats and Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party 21. It puts the anti-Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats, compared with 50 for the Netanyahu-led bloc. Arab-led parties, which oppose Netanyahu but are not part of the Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc, are projected to win 17 seats. Channel 13 projects Likud to win 25 seats and Yashar 23. It puts the anti-Netanyahu bloc at 53 seats, compared with 50 for the right-wing religious bloc supporting the prime minister. Arab-led parties are projected to win a record 17 seats. The scenario would echo the period from 2019 to 2022, when Israel held five rounds of voting. Kan and Channel 13 give it 14 seats, while Channel 12 projects 12. The Arab-led Joint List and the left-wing Democrats are projected to win 10 seats each in Kan’s poll, while Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu is projected to win eight. All three exit polls project that the nonaligned Reservists party and the right-wing People of Israel party will fall short of the 3.25% threshold required to enter the Knesset.
Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot could seek the first opportunity to form a government by appealing to President Isaac Herzog. Netanyahu leads the largest individual party, while Eisenkot heads the bloc projected to have more seats overall. The results also leave open the possibility that neither side will be able to assemble a coalition, potentially forcing Israel into another election. Netanyahu would remain caretaker prime minister in the interim. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad party is projected to finish third.