Arabic version: استطلاعات الخروج لا تُظهر فائزاً واضحاً في الانتخابات الإسرائيلية

According to Al Jazeera, exit polls after Israel’s October 27 election showed no clear winner in a closely contested vote. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc was projected to take 50 seats, while the bloc led by opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot was expected to win 52 or 53 seats.

Neither projected total reaches the 61 seats needed to form a majority government. Arab parties were projected to win 18 seats collectively. Polling stations closed at 10pm local time, or 20:00 GMT, after the Central Elections Committee rejected a request from Netanyahu’s Likud Party to extend voting hours.

Turnout reached 74.3 percent by 8pm local time, according to Central Elections Committee data. That was higher than the 70.63 percent turnout recorded in the 2022 election. Exit polls are based on interviews with voters immediately after they cast their ballots and have tended to closely anticipate results in previous elections.

Preliminary results were expected on Wednesday, followed by a final tally on Friday. Official results are due on November 4, eight days after the vote. The election pitted Netanyahu against Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a former army chief, and was widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu’s handling of the October 7, 2023 events and subsequent conflicts.