Israel Exit Polls Split: Eisenkot Edges Netanyahu, No Majority
Projections from two commercial television channels and the national public broadcaster showed Eisenkot’s bloc in front. A third television channel forecast a lead for Netanyahu’s bloc.
The first channel projected 53 seats for Eisenkot’s bloc, 50 for Netanyahu’s and 17 for Arab parties in the 120-seat Knesset. The public broadcaster’s numbers were identical. The second channel projected 52, 50 and 18 seats, respectively. The outlier, the third channel, gave Netanyahu’s bloc 60 seats, Eisenkot’s 43 and Arab parties 17.
No projection reached the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
Eisenkot, who chairs the Yashar party, said the early figures pointed to a “complete lack of trust in Netanyahu.” He added: “If these are the final results, this is a victory for the Zionist-statist majority in Israel.”
He vowed to “act immediately to implement the will of the people,” unseat Netanyahu’s government and form a “Zionist mobilization government” at the earliest opportunity.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said Netanyahu’s bloc had suffered a “severe defeat.” “Don’t let them confuse you: the Netanyahu bloc suffered a severe defeat. This is a complete collapse, and the public told them to go home,” Lapid said.
Democrats party leader Yair Golan said “the public has spoken -- it fired Netanyahu’s government.” He added: “We have received a historic opportunity to form a real change government in Israel, and we do not intend to give it up.”
A television channel reported that President Isaac Herzog is expected to ask Eisenkot to form the next government. The decision will depend on the official results and on recommendations from the parliamentary parties.
Polling stations closed at 10 pm local time (2000GMT), and vote counting began. The exit polls are projections, not official results.
Voter turnout reached 77.7%, the Central Elections Committee reported, the highest since 1999 and 7.1 percentage points above the 2022 election. According to the committee, 5,449,277 of the 7,331,981 eligible voters cast ballots.
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