Central Elections Committee Begins Publishing Official Election Results

Original report Israel’s Central Elections Committee began publishing counted results for the election to the 26th Knesset shortly after midnight on Wednesday, October 28. The first announcement concerned a small initial group of polling stations following Tuesday’s nationwide vote. The committee’s initial announcement was reported as covering 15 polling stations where 2,679 voters had cast ballots. These were partial results, subject to change as counting and checking continued. The committee said the figures would be updated during the night as additional results were processed. The initial release therefore did not represent the completed nationwide count. After polling stations closed on Tuesday night, election workers moved into the counting and verification stages. Members of each polling-station committee manually count the paper ballots and record the figures in a protocol. Those records accompany the voting materials sent onward to the regional election committees, rather than ending the process at the polling station. The Central Elections Committee’s systems then receive the data for further checks and controls. Ballots cast in double envelopes are handled separately by the committee and undergo the required checks, including measures to prevent duplicate voting. The overnight publication was taking place while this wider process of receiving, counting and checking election materials continued. Update • Speaking after the exit polls overnight on October 28, Gadi Eisenkot urged Benjamin Netanyahu to retire from politics, while acknowledging that the official results were still awaited. • Eisenkot said another election would be a mistake given the high turnout and pledged to work toward forming a stable Zionist government. • Eisenkot warned Netanyahu against using Israel’s security for political purposes and urged security and public-service leaders to stand firm against attempts to challenge their professional duties. • In its 01:00 revision on October 28, the election exit poll projected 51 seats for each main bloc and 18 for the Arab parties, leaving neither main bloc with the 61 seats required for a majority. • The revised exit poll projected Likud at 27 seats. These figures were estimates, separate from the official count. • A revised Channel 12 exit poll published overnight on October 28 projected 52 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc, 49 for the change bloc and 19 for the Arab parties. Neither main bloc reached the 61 seats required for a majority; these remained exit-poll estimates, separate from the official count.