Israel's final election results show no bloc has won a majority

Vote counting is complete in Israel’s elections, but neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition has won an outright majority in parliament.

Netanyahu's coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset's 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats.

The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats, while the potential kingmakers – two Arab-led parties – won an historic 19 seats in parliament.

This fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks.

Israelis protested outside Eisenkot’s home on Thursday, urging opposition parties hoping to oust Netanyahu to join forces with the Arab-Israeli groups.

But, as politicians meet to explore options for a coalition, both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have previously said they will not work with these parties.

With no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed, there is a prospect of another election if talks fail.

The final tally came as the prime minister accused the Palestinian-Israeli parties of election fraud, claiming they had “stolen” the polls.

Netanyahu's camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received funding from Qatar to influence the vote.

Both Arab-majority lists and Qatar have rejected the accusations, with Raam leader Mansour Abbas welcoming an investigation.

The Joint List has accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a "campaign of incitement" out of fear of Arab voters' growing political influence.

Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.

The elections committee has asked the Shin Bet intelligence service to investigate alleged election interference by unspecified “foreign entities”.

The opposition, meanwhile, has accused Netanyahu of demonising the Arab population in an attempt to delegitimise the election after failing to secure a governing majority.

"He is trying to challenge the election results," left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.

Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was "too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all".

But he continued: "It's already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election."

Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.

Israel's longest-serving prime minister for years tacitly supported Qatar funding of Hamas in Gaza, hoping to preserve stability, but that approach collapsed on 7 October 2023.