Israel Exit Polls Show No Clear Winner as Netanyahu Bloc Trails Eisenkot’s Camp

JERUSALEM, Oct 27: Israel’s parliamentary elections ended Tuesday with no clear winner emerging from the first exit polls, which projected a divided 120-seat Knesset and left both major political blocs short of a parliamentary majority.

A Channel 13 exit poll projected 50 seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc, compared with 53 seats for the bloc led by opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot. Arab parties were projected to win 17 seats.

Neither of the two main blocs reached the 61 seats required for a majority in the Knesset, pointing to potential difficulties in forming the next government.

The projections were released after polling stations closed at 10 pm local time (2000 GMT), with vote counting beginning shortly afterward. The exit poll figures are preliminary estimates and do not represent official election results.

According to the Central Elections Committee, voter turnout reached 74.3% by 8 pm local time (1800 GMT).

The committee said 5,449,277 people had cast their ballots out of 7,331,981 eligible voters.

The election is a crucial test for Netanyahu’s political future, with the outcome determining the balance of power in Israel’s parliament. If the initial projections are borne out by the official count, negotiations among political parties will be necessary to determine whether a governing coalition can be formed.

The final outcome will depend on the official vote count and subsequent coalition negotiations.