Preliminary results and remaining ballots
With 77% of votes counted, the reported seat distribution is: Likud 27; Yashar! 22; Beyachad (Together) 12; the Joint List 11; The Democrats 8; United Torah Judaism, Yisrael Beiteinu, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) and Shas 7 each; Ra’am 6; and Religious Zionism-Zehut 6.
The Netanyahu bloc stands at 54 seats, the Change Bloc at 49, and the Arab parties at 17. Further changes are expected, according to Amit Segal. Double-envelope ballots, including votes from soldiers and other special voting groups, have yet to be counted.
An earlier October 28 update put the count at approximately 70.7%, following an additional 250,588 votes. It gave Yashar 20 seats, Together 11, the Joint List 13 and Yisrael Beiteinu 8, with the other parties unchanged.
At that stage, the coalition held 54 seats, the Change Bloc 47, the Joint List 13 and Ra’am 6. Compared with the update preceding that count, Yashar had fallen one seat and the Joint List had gained one.
Parties below the electoral threshold
In the earlier update, Reservists and the Economic Party stood at 2.64%, while Amcha Yisrael stood at 1.65%, both below the electoral threshold.
Amit Segal described Ofer Winter’s approximately 1.7% as far from the threshold and argued that his result had nothing to do with any Netanyahu campaign.
Talks to replace the Knesset speaker
The Joint List chairman said:
“We are prepared to pave the way for the ouster of Netanyahu’s government.”
Talks are underway within the Change Bloc to replace the Knesset speaker, potentially as early as the Knesset’s swearing-in ceremony. No candidate has been agreed upon. Oded Forer and Elazar Stern are among the names raised in recent days.
Segal assesses that securing the speakership could give the opposition temporary control of parliament and allow it to advance limited legislation.
He warns of potentially significant costs, including new elections under difficult circumstances and a political price for parliamentary cooperation with the Joint List.
Agreeing on a candidate is another obstacle. Segal describes Stern as an unpopular choice with Lapid and Lieberman.
Request to investigate alleged voter bribery
MK Kroizer and Otzma Yehudit have urgently appealed to Solberg and Zini to investigate suspicions that Ra’am, or individuals acting on its behalf, paid bribes to voters on a large scale. These are allegations raised in their request.
Segal’s assessment of the count
Segal argues that the overnight exit polls suggested Netanyahu had lost without making clear who on the opposing side had won. His assessment of the morning count is different: Netanyahu has not yet won, but the Change Bloc has “clearly lost.”
The results remain preliminary.
