Israel Election Exit Polls: Netanyahu's Likud Largest Party, but No Bloc Near a Majority

Israel's election ended on Tuesday without a clear winner, according to the first exit polls released when voting closed at 10 p.m. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is projected to be the largest single party in the 120-seat Knesset, but the bloc of parties opposed to him, led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, is projected to finish slightly ahead of Netanyahu's camp. Neither side comes close to the 61 seats needed to govern on its own.
One statement welcoming the results said the parties of Netanyahu's government had shrunk from 68 seats to 50, while the four parties of the change coalition won 53 seats and Arab-majority parties won 17. Turnout was reported to be at its highest level ever, with more than 7.3 million Israelis eligible to vote and Arab citizens turning out in historic numbers. Exit polls are projections, not results, and the official count will come in through the night and over the coming days.
What happens next could take weeks. President Isaac Herzog will consult party leaders before asking the lawmaker most likely to assemble a majority to form a government. That candidate gets 28 days to negotiate a coalition, with a possible 14-day extension. Until a new government is sworn in, Netanyahu remains in office — so even a night of exit-poll defeat does not immediately end his time as prime minister.
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