Israel election update: Officials say elections will stand as Benjamin Netanyahu questions integrity

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to question the integrity of Israel’s election has been weakened as officials say the vote won’t be undermined by his allegations and a court orders suspects in one case released.

The head of Israel’s elections committee was shown sitting between Israel’s attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet intelligence service for a statement, making clear that even if claims of foreign interference were substantiated, the vote would stand.

Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party has said, without giving evidence, that Arab-led parties “stole” the elections in which Mr Netanyahu’s bloc lost its majority of seats in parliament.

By casting doubt on the vote, Mr Netanyahu appears to be trying to block any potential alliance in the opposition with the Arab parties that could force him from office.

Likud has cited a handful of cases, including the arrests of three political activists before polls opened on October 27 with envelopes of cash, allegedly to bribe voters.

Two days later, police arrested four more suspects. Police said the suspects were connected to the Islamist party Ra’am, which denied that it was involved.

A judge on Sunday questioned or rejected police requests for further restrictions on the three suspects.

Police later said one was released subject to unspecified “conditions” and another was ordered to remain on house arrest for eight days. The detention of the third suspect was extended for two days.

Mansour Abbas, leader of the Ra’am party, which won eight seats in the Knesset, denounced the arrests as undemocratic and “an attempt to influence the election results”.

Mr Netanyahu saw his parliamentary bloc of allies drop to 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, down from a peak of 68 in the outgoing parliament.

A bloc of parties led by his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats, while Arab-led parties, including Ra’am, won the remaining 19 seats.

Together, those two blocs opposing Mr Netanyahu have enough seats to form a new government, though it remains unclear whether they will agree to do so.

The results are due to be officially certified this week, and President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday will begin meeting with each of the parties elected to parliament after that to see who they prefer to be the next Prime Minister.

Following those consultations, he will choose the candidate - most likely Mr Netanyahu or Mr Eisenkot - who he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition government.

That would set the stage for weeks of negotiations. If they are unsuccessful, Mr Herzog could ask another candidate to try. Otherwise, the country would be plunged into a new election in 2027.