Final count in Israeli election has Benjamin Netanyahu in front but well short of majority

Claims of poll rigging, probes into suspicious betting plunges and violent protests have clouded Israel’s general election result, after the final count left Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc short of a parliamentary majority.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s coalition of right-wing and far-right parties won 53 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with his Likud party remaining the largest faction with 27 seats.

The opposition bloc, led by centrist Gadi Eisenkot, secured 48 seats, , setting the stage for tough coalition talks or potentially another vote.

The results from the Central Elections Committee also cemented the emergence as potential kingmakers of the Arab party groupings Raam and the Joint List, with the two winning a combined 19 seats.

The fragmented outcome sets the stage for difficult negotiations to form a government that could last weeks, with no single bloc able to reach the 61-seat threshold needed and the prospect of another election remaining if talks fail.

The final tally came after Netanyahu’s camp spent Thursday amplifying unproven allegations that Arab-Israeli groups received foreign funding to influence the vote, accusations rejected by both Arab-majority lists and Qatar.

Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security service said it was investigating suspected irregularities, but stressed the probe was not intended to “cast aspersions or place blame on an entire sector that went out to vote in a democratic and lawful manner”.

The electoral commission also sought to calm tensions, with its acting director general Dean Livne saying any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.

“To the best of our knowledge, there is no basis for claims of systematic violation of the purity of the elections,” he said.

The controversy centred on allegations that Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas, to finance vote-buying operations.

“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party said on Thursday.

Raam leader Mansour Abbas denied any wrongdoing and welcomed an investigation, while the Joint List accused Netanyahu and his allies of conducting a “campaign of incitement” out of fear of Arab voters’ growing political influence.

Government officials have so far provided no evidence to back the allegations.

Mr Netanyahu posted a screenshot of a Joint List political leader giving a TV interview from Al Jazeera’s Doha headquarters and asked: “Why was Ahmad Tibi in Qatar four days before the election?”

Opposition figures accused Mr Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the results after failing to secure a governing majority.

“He is trying to challenge the election results,” left-wing candidate Yair Golan said.

Mr Eisenkot said he was briefed by the Shin Bet and the election committee, adding it was “too early to understand what happened, and whether anything happened at all”.

“It’s already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to de-legitimise the results of the election.”

Mr Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.

Qatar called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.

Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, for years tacitly supported Qatar funding Hamas in Gaza, hoping to preserve stability, but that approach collapsed on October 7, 2023.

Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, said willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Mr Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.

Mr Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and Likud peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.

Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.

Sports betting company Polymarket is investigating dozens of bets made on the election result on the eve of the polls.

The bets were place of hundreds of new accounts on Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party winning.

“In the last 24 hours our tools picked up massive inflows of YES buys on fresh wallets,” data analysis firm Polysight posted on social media Tuesday. “This is definitely worth investigating.”

Polymarket said it had reported the activity to law enforcement

The election result was marred by hundreds of ultra-orthodox Jewish men rioting in Bnei Brak, just outside Tel Aviv, protsesting against the arrest of a military draft dodger on Thursday night.

Police claimed three officers were injured and one was hospitalised as the protesters assaulted reporters and terrorised passersby.

The ambulance service said it treated more than people as a result of the protest.

Three protesters were injured and police used batons and water canons to disperse the crowd.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir questioned the police response, accusing police Commissioner Daniel Levy of attempting to gain favor with Israel’s opposition.

“For several days now, the police commissioner has been behaving as though he wants to please the next government, thinking he will win favour with Yair Gola,” ISraeli media reported.