Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Israel voted on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, there is still no winner. Workers are counting the votes.
A party needs 61 seats to rule. The Knesset has 120 seats. The group behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has about 55 seats. The group behind Gadi Eisenkot has about 48 seats. Neither group has 61.
Arab parties won about 18 seats. They can decide who rules. Netanyahu says he does not want their help. Some leaders on the other side say he should accept the result.
Many people voted. Turnout was 77.7 percent. That is the highest in many years. The last count comes on Friday.
- vote
- To choose a person or party in an election.
- seat
- One place for one member in a parliament.
- count
- To add up how many votes there are.
- winner
- The person or group that comes first.
- parliament
- The group of people who make the laws.
- turnout
- How many people came to vote.
- rule
- To lead a country.
- result
- What the votes show at the end.
Level 2 - Elementary
Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, October 27, and woke up on Wednesday without a government. With about 72 percent of the ballots counted by mid-morning, the bloc of parties that supports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood in the mid-50s, below the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
The bloc around Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief who leads the new Yashar party, stood at about 48 seats. Netanyahu's Likud was the largest single party with roughly 27 seats, and Yashar came second with about 21.
The Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, together won about 18 seats. Because neither bloc can reach 61 on its own, those seats may decide who forms the next government. Netanyahu told supporters in Jerusalem that his side had won a clear majority among what he called the Zionist public, and that he would not build a government with Arab parties.
Turnout was 77.7 percent, up from 70.6 percent in 2022 and the highest in decades. The shekel weakened about 0.7 percent against the dollar as traders reacted to the uncertainty. Preliminary results are expected on Wednesday, a final tally on Friday, and official results on November 4.
- polls
- The places where people vote.
- ballot
- The paper or slip used to vote.
- bloc
- A group of parties that work together.
- majority
- More than half of the total.
- coalition
- A government formed by several parties together.
- preliminary
- Early and not yet final.
- uncertainty
- Not knowing what will happen.
- tally
- The official count of votes.
Level 3 - Intermediate
Israel's general election has produced the outcome its political class feared most: an almost perfectly balanced Knesset in which no obvious coalition adds up to 61 seats. With roughly 72 percent of ballots counted on Wednesday morning, the pro-Netanyahu bloc was credited with between 54 and 56 seats, while the bloc gathered around Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party stood at about 48. The two Arab lists, the Joint List on about 12 seats and Ra'am on about 6, sat outside both camps.
That arithmetic makes the Arab parties unusually powerful without necessarily putting them in government. Democrats leader Yair Golan argued that the anti-Netanyahu camp plus the Arab lists amounts to 65 seats and urged his allies to stop treating partnership with Arab citizens as taboo. Netanyahu, speaking at Likud headquarters in Jerusalem, countered that his side holds a decisive majority among what he described as the Zionist public and said he intends to form a right-wing government.
Three small parties appear to have fallen below the 3.25 percent threshold, including a new Reservists list on about 2.7 percent. Votes that cross the threshold are redistributed, so even a few thousand ballots from soldiers and diplomats, counted in so-called double envelopes later in the week, could move a seat between blocs and change the whole picture.
Markets reacted cautiously rather than violently. The shekel slipped about 0.7 percent to roughly 3.08 per dollar after hitting a three-week high on Tuesday, when investors had bet on a decisive result. Turnout of 77.7 percent, the highest in decades, suggests an unusually mobilized electorate on both sides. Preliminary results are expected Wednesday, a final tally Friday, and official certification on November 4, after which the president begins consulting parties on who should try to form a government.
- arithmetic
- The numbers of a situation and how they add up.
- threshold
- The minimum share of votes a party needs to enter parliament.
- taboo
- Something widely treated as forbidden or unacceptable.
- mobilized
- Brought into action, with many people taking part.
- certification
- The official confirmation of a result.
- camp
- A side in a political contest.
- redistributed
- Shared out again in a different way.
- decisive
- Clear enough to settle the matter.
Level 4 - Advanced
Israel's October 27 election has delivered the one verdict no campaign strategist can spin: stalemate. By mid-morning on Wednesday, with about 72 percent of ballots tabulated, the bloc loyal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hovered in the mid-50s, the camp assembled around Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party rested near 48, and the two Arab lists held some 18 seats that belong to neither. Sixty-one remains the only number that matters, and nobody has it.
The resulting arithmetic has revived the most combustible question in Israeli politics: whether a governing majority may legitimately be constructed with the votes of Arab parties. Democrats leader Yair Golan pressed the case bluntly, insisting that 65 exceeds 55 and that his allies must abandon what he characterized as a racist distinction between Jewish and Arab ballots. Netanyahu, addressing supporters at Likud headquarters, pointedly reframed the denominator instead, claiming a decisive majority among the Zionist public and ruling out reliance on parties he deems anti-Zionist.
Three lists appear stranded beneath the 3.25 percent threshold, among them a new Reservists party polling about 2.7 percent, and their surplus votes will be reallocated under Israel's proportional formula. Because double-envelope ballots cast by soldiers, prisoners and diplomats are tallied only later in the week, and because a single mandate can migrate on a few thousand votes, the sequencing of the count is not a procedural footnote but a potential pivot.
Financial markets registered unease without panic. The shekel depreciated roughly 0.7 percent to about 3.08 per dollar, surrendering a three-week high reached on Tuesday when traders had wagered on clarity. Turnout of 77.7 percent, against 70.6 percent in 2022, points to an electorate unusually alert to the stakes, including the aftermath of the war with Iran that Netanyahu cast as a historic opportunity to be seized with Washington. Preliminary figures are due Wednesday, a final tally Friday and certification on November 4, after which the president's consultations will determine who receives the mandate to try, and perhaps fail, to build a coalition.
- stalemate
- A situation in which neither side can make progress.
- tabulated
- Counted and arranged in an organized form.
- combustible
- Easily set off; highly explosive in effect.
- denominator
- The total a share is measured against; here, which voters are counted.
- surplus
- An amount left over beyond what is needed.
- proportional
- Allocating seats in line with each party's share of the vote.
- pivot
- A point on which an outcome turns.
- mandate
- The authority given to a leader to govern or to try to form a government.
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