Elections in Israel: Everyone declared victory, but there was no one to form a cabinet The elections in Israel on October 27 ended with a very typical result for local politics: both sides celebrate victory, although neither side still has a parliamentary majority. According to known (interim) data, Bibi Netanyahu's bloc receives 55 mandates in the Knesset, Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc - 49, Arab parties - 16. 61 mandates are required to form a government. At the same time, the voting rate reached 77.7% - this is the maximum since 1999. What did these elections show? First of all, Netanyahu proved to be much more resilient than his opponents expected. Despite the many allegations against the prime minister before and after October 7, 2023, Likud remains the largest party: according to preliminary calculations, it has about 27 seats compared to about 21 for Eisenkot's party. Netanyahu managed to maintain a significant portion of support in the elections, and his government made its military successes one of the main arguments of the campaign. The main problem of the opposition is that it is mainly united in the desire to oust Netanyahu. The camp of his opponents included former Chief of Staff Eisenkot, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman and leftist politician Yair Golan. It is relatively easy to agree on a change of prime minister between them. But the agreement on the attitude to religion, the Palestinian issue, the settlements and the future structure of the Jewish state is much more difficult. Particularly indicative is the issue of recruiting the ultra-Orthodox into the army. While some Israelis have been serving and fighting for years, religious parties demand to maintain a special status for yeshiva students. For the secular opposition it is a matter of equal responsibility, for religious parties it is a basic condition for participation in the cabinet. And for Netanyahu this is one of the main issues in maintaining the coalition. But Arab parties may become unexpected owners of decisive votes.

Elections in Israel: Everyone declared victory, but there was no one to form a cabinet The elections in Israel on October 27 ended with a very typical result for local politics: both sides celebrate victory, although neither side still has a parliamentary majority. According to known (interim) data, Bibi Netanyahu's bloc receives 55 mandates in the Knesset, Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc - 49, Arab parties - 16. 61 mandates are required to form a government. At the same time, the voting rate reached 77.7% - this is the maximum since 1999. What did these elections show? First of all, Netanyahu proved to be much more resilient than his opponents expected. Despite the many allegations against the prime minister before and after October 7, 2023, Likud remains the largest party: according to preliminary calculations, it has about 27 seats compared to about 21 for Eisenkot's party. Netanyahu managed to maintain a significant portion of support in the elections, and his government made its military successes one of the main arguments of the campaign. The main problem of the opposition is that it is mainly united in the desire to oust Netanyahu. The camp of his opponents included former Chief of Staff Eisenkot, former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman and leftist politician Yair Golan. It is relatively easy to agree on a change of prime minister between them. But the agreement on the attitude to religion, the Palestinian issue, the settlements and the future structure of the Jewish state is much more difficult. Particularly indicative is the issue of recruiting the ultra-Orthodox into the army. While some Israelis have been serving and fighting for years, religious parties demand to maintain a special status for yeshiva students. For the secular opposition it is a matter of equal responsibility, for religious parties it is a basic condition for participation in the cabinet. And for Netanyahu this is one of the main issues in maintaining the coalition. But Arab parties may become unexpected owners of decisive votes.