# Final Count Leaves Netanyahu's Bloc at 53 Seats, Eight Short of a Knesset Majority

Arab parties hold 19 seats, the result is due to be certified on November 4, and the dollar rose above 3.14 shekels this week.

- Published: 2026-10-31T05:13:16.885Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-10-31/final-count-leaves-netanyahu-s-bloc-at-53-seats-eight-short
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: world
- Sources: [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/difficult-negotiations-lie-ahead-in-israel-after-netanyahus-bloc-lost-its-parliamentary-majority/article71645164.ece), [Globes (Hebrew)](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001561446#utm_source=RSS)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats in Israel's 120-seat Knesset, according to the Central Elections Committee's final count, [reported by The Times of Israel](https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-all-votes-counted-netanyahus-bloc-at-53-seats-eisenkots-48-arab-parties-19/). The opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats and Arab parties won a combined 19. Neither bloc reaches the 61 seats needed for a majority. [The Hindu reported](https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/difficult-negotiations-lie-ahead-in-israel-after-netanyahus-bloc-lost-its-parliamentary-majority/article71645164.ece) that the results must still be certified and submitted to the president on November 4, and that difficult coalition negotiations lie ahead.

The arithmetic gives the Arab parties a deciding role. Netanyahu's bloc can reach a majority only by attracting defectors from the opposition. Eisenkot's bloc can reach a majority only with Arab party support, either inside a coalition or from outside it, and some of its own members have rejected that option in past elections.

Markets moved in the same week. [Globes reported](https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1001561446#utm_source=RSS) that the dollar rose sharply against the shekel to above 3.14, a six-month high. The move coincided with the global sell-off in technology shares, which weighs on Israel's tech-heavy export base, and with renewed tension around Iran.

## What this means

Israel enters a period in which a caretaker government will make security decisions on Iran, Gaza and Lebanon while no one holds a clear mandate. Netanyahu stays in office during negotiations, so a stalemate preserves his control over war policy. The shekel and Israeli government bonds are exposed through a longer period without a budget and through the risk premium attached to decisions taken by a caretaker cabinet. The precedent is 2019 to 2022, when Israel held five elections in less than four years and operated without an approved budget for long stretches. The desk's read is that coalition talks will not produce a government within the first mandate period of several weeks, and that a second mandate or a new election becomes the base case by early next year. That read is wrong if a party from the opposition bloc crosses to Netanyahu within the first mandate period, which would give him a narrow majority.

## What to watch

- Which candidate the president asks to form a government after November 4. The choice will set the order of negotiations.
- The public positions of Arab party leaders on supporting an Eisenkot government. Their stance decides whether the opposition can form a majority.
- The shekel against the dollar after certification. Further weakness would show investors pricing a long period without a government.