Update: Herzog Urges Israeli Parties to Avoid Another Election as Soldiers' Ballots Are Counted
President Isaac Herzog says formal consultations on who will form Israel's next government will begin after official results are certified next week, while Benjamin Netanyahu and Gadi Eisenkot each press their claims.
Learn more ›JERUSALEM, Israel —
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, Oct. 28, urged party leaders to do all they can to keep the country from a new round of voting after Tuesday's election left neither main bloc with a majority. “We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections,” Herzog said at a gathering at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported.
Learn more ›Herzog said he expects party leaders to come to him “with an open mind” and called the high turnout a “badge of honor for Israeli society.” Turnout reached 77.7% as of 10 p.m. on election night, up from 70.6% in 2022 and the highest since 1999, according to the Times of Israel.
Herzog said he expects to receive official final results next week from Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, and will then begin consultations with every Knesset faction. Ynet reported, citing unnamed sources, that he could begin contacting party leaders as early as Friday based on near-final results. The leader he chooses will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension.
The Central Elections Committee began counting the last “double envelope” ballots early Thursday, Oct. 29. These are absentee votes cast mostly by soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, along with prisoners, medical staff and Israeli diplomats abroad. The Times of Israel estimated them at 430,000 to 480,000 ballots and said they could shift individual seats but likely not the balance of power.
Learn more ›With about 90% of ballots counted, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc held 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot 48, and the Arab parties 19, the Times of Israel reported. Sixty-one seats are needed to govern. Some Israeli media reported Thursday morning that the Ra'am party had gained a seat from the Joint List, but official committee figures had not changed.
Netanyahu told his partners Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, “We are together and we are staying together,” according to Channel 14. Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party, said the results showed “no confidence in the government of October 7” and pledged to work toward “a Zionist government committed to military conscription.” Coalition talks are expected to be long.
