Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday accepted the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections as legally binding, dealing a direct blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to contest the vote. Herzog announced he will begin consultations with party representatives to form a new government following an election where Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist bloc lost its majority in the Knesset while Arab-led parties secured historic gains.
Did You Know? In the October 27 vote, neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the bloc of allies led by his chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61-seat parliamentary majority needed to form a new government on their own.
Presidential Acceptance Versus Electoral Fraud Claims
Herzog’s formal acceptance of the election results counters repeated, unsubstantiated claims by Netanyahu and his supporters alleging that Arab-led parties stole the election with potential foreign assistance. Israel’s Central Elections Committee announced earlier on Wednesday that a thorough fraud investigation found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the vote or altered its outcome. Netanyahu’s Likud party did not respond to a request for comment on the commission’s findings, while far-right ally Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected the validation entirely and called for the arrest of Arab political party leaders.
Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg presented the results to Herzog during a ceremony, warning that casting doubt on verified democratic outcomes poses a real danger to public trust. Public trust in the electoral process is easy to destroy, yet very difficult to repair,
he warned. However, Sohlberg maintained that these suspicions remain unproven and that any potential impact would be limited, emphasizing that the election results reflect the genuine will of Israeli voters.
President meets political leaders to select candidate
Following the official handover of results, Herzog is scheduled to hold a series of meetings with political party leaders over the coming days. The president will ultimately select the candidate he believes has the best chance of assembling a governing coalition, most likely choosing between Netanyahu and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot.
Simultaneously, tensions persist surrounding a separate Shin Bet probe into alleged foreign interference. Herzog stated that he spoke to Shin Bet chief David Zini and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara against the background of reports of severe disagreements between the two over the handling of the investigation, adding that he respects them both and has full confidence in the work of the Shin Bet, the Israel Police, and law enforcement authorities to fully investigate any suspicion of subversive foreign interference in the election results. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sharply rejected a Shin Bet request to interrogate Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas and other senior Arab lawmakers, stating that questioning elected officials requires concrete justification: It is not permissible to interrogate citizens or elected officials without evidence to justify such action.
Herzog cautioned that Arab Israeli voters must not be smeared by the ongoing investigations, explicitly condemning recent coarse and racist expressions directed at the Arab community, stating, I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently. There is no place for them toward any community in Israel.
Opposition parties secure majority in Knesset
Who won the parliamentary elections?
Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s alliance secured an outright majority. However, opposition parties collectively won 67 seats in the 120-member Knesset, compared to 53 seats for Netanyahu’s ruling religious-nationalist bloc.
What did the Central Elections Committee conclude about fraud allegations?
The election commission investigated claims of fraud and found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results, declaring the vote legally binding.
What happens if neither candidate can form a government?
If neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot succeeds in putting together a coalition government during the weeks of negotiations following Herzog’s designation, Israel will hold a new election early next year.