Exit Polls Show Historic Tie Between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, Arab Parties Secure 18 Seats

Preliminary exit polls in Israeli elections showed a deadlock between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, with each securing 51 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, according to available figures.

Meanwhile, exit polls projected that Arab parties would gain 18 seats, a record number, divided between the Joint List alliance and Raam party led by Mansour Abbas. This result keeps both main blocs short of the 61-seat threshold needed to form a government.

Total voter turnout reached 77.7% according to the Central Elections Committee, while Israeli Channel 12 reported that turnout among Palestinian citizens in Israel was approximately 80%, the highest since 1999.

Mansour Abbas announced that his party received calls from both blocs before and after the elections, noting that he hopes the final results will allow the anti-Netanyahu bloc to reach 61 seats. Abbas told Channel 12: "With the numbers we have now, there is no government." It is worth noting that Raam currently holds five seats in the Knesset and was part of the government coalition that ruled Israel between 2021 and 2022.

In this context, Alon Pinkas, former Israeli ambassador, warned that forming a government could prove difficult for parties like Eisenkot's, given their campaign pledges not to enter coalitions with Arab parties. Pinkas said that "there is a price to be paid," because "Arabs cannot be kept out of the equation and only taken into account when you need their votes." He added that lists with Arab majorities will make demands that a government led by Jews may not accept.

Netanyahu and his far-right coalition had made intensive efforts in the final moments to mobilize their supporters, warning of rising turnout among Palestinian citizens, a trend that Arab politicians described as racist and incitement. Jerusalem witnessed Likud campaign vehicles playing the Islamic call to prayer and urging supporters to vote because "Arabs are voting," according to eyewitnesses.