Likud alleges election theft as Israeli vote count points to hung parliament

Israel is due to vote on Tuesday, 27 October, in its first general election since the Hamas-led attacks of 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a challenge from Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief, but neither man can take power simply by finishing ahead: the question is who can assemble a governing coalition.

Polls published on Friday put the governing coalition and the main opposition bloc almost level, according to the BBC. Reuters reported that polls had long suggested Netanyahu’s alliance could lose its majority, while Eisenkot had no clear route to power either.

The demand for an account of the failures before the 7 October attacks has become a campaign issue. Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday for an independent state inquiry, NOS reported. Netanyahu has refused to establish one; Eisenkot has promised to do so. Netanyahu has centred his campaign on security under the slogan “No Surrender”, while Eisenkot has argued that the election is also about what kind of state Israel should be.

Interviews in Dimona, a longstanding Likud stronghold, show how difficult it is to read a national result from individual shifts. Yossi Assayag, who told Reuters he had supported Netanyahu’s party for most of his life, said: “Bibi has to go.” Another voter, Ruti Ohana, said: “I will never betray Likud.”

Voters travelling from abroad add another unknown. The US-based AID Coalition estimates that as many as 67,000 Israelis could return to cast ballots. But political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin told the Associated Press that it was unclear how they would vote as a group; some were returning to support Netanyahu.

The distinction between the two main camps is not a simple divide over Israel’s approach to Palestinians. The BBC reported that Eisenkot has pledged to end Hamas rule in Gaza through a US-led peace plan or military action, and that the main opposition leaders support some form of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. None has openly committed to full Palestinian statehood. If the close race leaves both blocs short of a majority, Arab parties could hold the balance of power, though most Jewish opposition parties have so far rejected working with them.

Update

Israelis began voting on Tuesday 27 October in their first parliamentary election since the Hamas-led attacks of 2023 and the wars that followed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a close challenge from former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, though the result may not quickly settle who governs.

More than 31% of eligible voters — over 2.3 million people — had cast ballots by noon local time, according to the Central Elections Committee, as reported by the Associated Press. It is an interim figure, not the final turnout.

Security and Netanyahu’s record have dominated the campaign. Eisenkot and other opponents have pressed for an independent inquiry into the failures surrounding the 7 October attacks; Netanyahu has resisted one, saying it would be biased against him. Disputes over proposed judicial changes and military service for ultra-Orthodox men have also shaped the contest.