- Netanyahu and Eisenkot face uncertainty over forming Israel’s next govt.
- Smaller parties could become kingmakers in fragmented 120-seat parliament.
- Record turnout reflects public judgement on Netanyahu after Oct 7 attacks.
JERUSALEM: Israel’s election appeared headed for a political deadlock on Tuesday, with exit polls showing neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, on course to secure a clear path to power.
The result could trigger prolonged coalition negotiations and allow Netanyahu to remain caretaker prime minister while parties attempt to assemble a governing majority.
Final results could take days, and Israel’s fragmented political system leaves smaller parties potential kingmakers. No single party has ever won 61 seats outright in the 120-seat Knesset, making coalitions the norm.
The vote drew record turnout as Israelis passed wartime judgement on Netanyahu in the first election since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and the ensuing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
Long lines formed outside polling stations as voters grappled with the trauma of Israel’s deadliest day and the wars that followed.
The policies of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition have been divisive at home and deepened Israel’s international isolation, but he has portrayed himself as the leader with the mettle to face down Israel’s foes.
Netanyahu, 77, has served as prime minister for nearly 19 of the past 30 years and has repeatedly survived political crises. His opponents have managed to wrest the premiership from him only once since 2009, after four inconclusive elections in two years. Eighteen months later, he was back.
He entered the election facing longstanding corruption charges, which he denies, and criticism over intelligence failures that allowed Hamas-led militants to kill 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Eisenkot, 66, a hawkish former military chief who lost a son and two nephews in the Gaza war, emerged as Netanyahu’s strongest challenger, stressing his security credentials while positioning himself as a centrist domestically.
He entered politics only four years ago and joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet after the Hamas attack, but quit eight months later, criticising the prime minister’s leadership.
For many Netanyahu opponents, the election turned on accountability for the security failures of October 7. Opposition groups have promised a national inquiry, which Netanyahu has resisted.
Netanyahu’s nationalist brand of politics is deeply entrenched, and Israel’s fragmented system makes it difficult for an array of opponents to force out his coalition of right-wing, far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties.
Netanyahu had urged supporters to come out to vote to balance high turnout among his opponents on the left and Arab Israelis. “You all need to stream to the polls,” he said. “This is a fateful moment.”
“I think these elections are the most important of all the ones I’ve known,” said Ruth Epstein, an 81-year-old longtime left-wing voter in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, who voted for the opposition Democrats.
Netanyahu campaigned on an endorsement from US President Donald Trump, his ally in the war against Iran, who has said they should “finish the job”.
