Netanyahu's Bloc Short of Majority After 2026 Knesset Vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing bloc fell short of a governing majority in the 2026 Knesset election, according to Central Elections Committee data. Democrats chairman Yair Golan said the arithmetic settles the question: "Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. 65 is more than 55. That's how Israeli democracy works. Period."

Golan's count adds Arab parties to the four-party opposition grouping of Yashar, B'Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and The Democrats, which the CEC projects at 47 seats. Ra'am is projected at six seats and the Joint List at 12, bringing the combined total to 65. The Democrats are projected to win nine seats.

Golan called for Arab parties to be included in any governing coalition. He also took aim at a rival framing, saying that if Netanyahu is considering assembling a Zionist bloc, he should "subtract from his own bloc the 16 Knesset members from the non-Zionist Haredi parties." Golan said his side has the numbers to act: "We have a majority. We have responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel's Arab citizens. A government that will serve all Israeli citizens."

MK Gilad Kariv of The Democrats described the political situation the morning after the vote as a "different political reality." He wrote on X/Twitter that "the fully right-wing coalition has lost quite a few seats" and that it "will most likely be unable to form a government in a similar configuration." Kariv said the vote against Netanyahu's continued premiership came "by a margin of hundreds of thousands of votes," and that he and his partners "must not be allowed to continue leading our country down the destructive path they have taken over the past four years."

The CEC figures for Ra'am and the Joint List mark an unprecedented seat total for Arab parties in a Knesset election. The 65-seat figure Golan cites depends on those Arab parties joining a coalition with the four opposition parties. The source material does not indicate whether either bloc has begun coalition negotiations, or whether Ra'am and the Joint List have agreed to join a government.