It’s Wednesday, October 28, and with about 77 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu’s coalition parties hold 54 seats to the change bloc’s 49. The Joint List has 11 and Ra’am six. Likud leads with 27 seats, followed by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar with 22 and Naftali Bennett’s Beyachad with 12. The Democrats have eight, while United Torah Judaism, Yisrael Beiteinu, Otzma Yehudit and Shas each have seven, and Religious Zionism, running with Zehut, has six. These numbers will still shift, and the double-envelope ballots, cast by soldiers and other special voters, have yet to be counted.
Israeli Prime Minister and Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu at the Likud party’s election headquarters at Binyanei HaUma (Jerusalem International Convention Center) in Jerusalem, following Israel’s general elections, early October 28, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Last night, the exit polls told one story: Netanyahu had lost, but it wasn’t clear who on the other side had won. This morning, the results are telling another. Netanyahu hasn’t won yet, but the change bloc has clearly lost.