Israel Election Exit Polls Show Netanyahu and Eisenkot Blocs Locked in a Tie

Revised exit polls from Israel's major TV networks show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing bloc tied with the opposition grouping led by Gadi Eisenkot, with each side on 51 seats. Both fall short of the 61 needed to form a majority coalition government in the Knesset.

The picture shifted during the evening. Exit polls released earlier on Tuesday had Eisenkot winning the most seats by a slight margin. Israeli exit polls are often revised after publication and are notoriously imprecise, and the final count can swing by several seats.

Palestinian parties are projected to make dramatic gains, with forecasts suggesting they could win as many as 18 seats, up from 10. Experts say that if Eisenkot falls short of a majority, as the exit polls indicate, he would have to negotiate with the Joint List and Ra'am to try to assemble a government, a process that could take weeks. Another possibility is a minority government kept afloat through informal vote-by-vote agreements.

Netanyahu addressed supporters at a post-election rally in Jerusalem just after 3am. He said official results would show that "Likud is the largest party in Israel" and argued that the country must "establish a strong, right-wing national government." He added that a government relying on the support of Palestinian parties must not be formed.

Speaking to cheering supporters in Tel Aviv, Eisenkot said the "Israeli public has voted against Netanyahu's service as Israel's prime minister." He argued that "a worthy leader would have accepted the people's non-confidence and announced today his retirement from politics."

Eisenkot also warned Netanyahu not to "use Israel's security" for political ends. The remark played on fears that the prime minister could use this period of uncertainty to launch a new attack on Iran.

The exit polls came after the Central Elections Committee rejected a last-ditch push by Netanyahu and several other parties to keep polling stations open beyond their 10pm deadline. The prime minister suggested publicly that the "left and Arabs" were working to steal the election. The committee rejected that claim and said it had seen no evidence of systematic tampering.

With the exit polls so close and historically unreliable, the final tally will determine which side has the stronger position. Whatever the outcome, neither bloc appears close to a majority on its own, pointing to a prolonged period of coalition bargaining.