✶ After 27 October 2026 · as of 4 November 2026
61 of 120,
and no bloc has it.
The outgoing coalition won 53 seats, the four parties that recommend Gadi Eisenkot 48, and the two Arab-led lists a record 19. The Central Elections Committee certified the results on 4 November 2026; President Herzog's consultations begin the same day, and the 26th Knesset is sworn in on 10 November 2026.
Basic Law: The Government ss.7–11 · the longest the law allows
The mandate,
day by day.
Every stage counted from the publication of the results on 4 November 2026, as if each attempt used its full time. In practice a government can be presented to the Knesset at any point.
- 04.11.2026 → 11.11.2026 · 7 days · Basic Law: The Government s.7 President consults every list, then names a member to form a government We are here
- 11.11.2026 → 09.12.2026 · 28 days · s.8 First nominee negotiates
- 09.12.2026 → 23.12.2026 · 14 days · s.8 Extensions the President may grant
- 26.12.2026 → 23.01.2027 · 28 days · s.9 A second member is given the task (or the President tells the Speaker it cannot be done)
- 23.01.2027 → 13.02.2027 · 21 days · s.10(a) 61 members may ask the President in writing to name a member
- 15.02.2027 → 01.03.2027 · 14 days · s.10(c) That member tries to form a government
- 01.03.2027 → 25.05.2027 · 90 days · s.11(b) No government: the Knesset is deemed dissolved and a new election follows
Until a new government wins confidence, the 37th government stays on as a transitional government (s.30). Section 13A, which allowed a “rotation government” with an alternate prime minister (used in 2020 and 2021), is marked in the consolidated text on Hebrew Wikisource as repealed from the start of the 26th Knesset. Basic Law: The Government ↗
On the record · each statement attributed
What the leaders
have said.
-
1 November 2026Naftali Bennett said Together would recommend Gadi Eisenkot to the President.
Wikipedia — 2026 Israeli legislative election (secondary) ↗ -
2 November 2026Yair Golan said the Democrats would recommend Eisenkot.
Wikipedia — 2026 Israeli legislative election (secondary) ↗ -
2 November 2026Avigdor Lieberman said Yisrael Beiteinu would recommend Eisenkot.
Wikipedia — 2026 Israeli legislative election (secondary) ↗ -
28 October 2026Ahmad Tibi voiced the Joint List's support for an Eisenkot-led government (reported by Middle East Monitor).
Wikipedia — Thirty-eighth government of Israel (secondary) ↗ -
29 October 2026Mansour Abbas was reported to consider a minority government led by Eisenkot unlikely (Times of Israel).
Wikipedia — Thirty-eighth government of Israel (secondary) ↗ -
28 October 2026Benjamin Netanyahu opened coalition talks with the parties of the outgoing coalition (Ynet). Likud said the election had been “stolen by Arab parties” and called for an investigation; a Central Elections Committee official rejected the claim.
Wikipedia — 2026 Israeli legislative election (secondary) ↗ -
28 October 2026Gadi Eisenkot said he would try to form a “Zionist government” with national service for all, and has ruled out serving under Netanyahu, including in a rotation (Times of Israel; Jerusalem Post).
Jerusalem Post — 2026 results ↗
Al Jazeera reported on 2 November that the Arab-led lists were set to back Eisenkot's bloc, one of them saying it would not join an Eisenkot government but would vote with it in the Knesset. The Committee's plenum approved the final results by 15 votes to 2, with 14 abstentions (Israel National News).
Photos: Naftali Bennett — Avi Ohayon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Yair Golan — Shlomi Amsalem, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ahmad Tibi — אמיר דיב - Amir Deeb, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Benjamin Netanyahu — Avi Ohayon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gadi Eisenkot — יהב טרודלר (Yahav Trudler - Yahav Studio), CC BY-SA 3.0 . Others public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Coalition builder · 26th Knesset, certified seats
Build a government,
or a minority one.
A government needs only more votes for than against to take office (s.13(d)); a majority government has 61. Lists that abstain can let a minority government in — but 61 members can replace it at any time with an alternative (s.28).
0confidence
0against
0abstain
The line marks 61 of 120.
Tap a list to cycle yes → against → abstain. Lists vote as blocs here; in the Knesset members sometimes break ranks.
Every minimal 61-seat combination (no list could leave without losing the majority)
2019–2022
Five elections
in three and a half years.
Between April 2019 and November 2022 Israel voted five times. Each time, the arithmetic of 61 decided whether a government could be formed.
- 9 April 2019 · 21st Knesset 60
Netanyahu was given the task but could not reach 61; the Knesset passed a dissolution law in May — the first time a new Knesset dissolved before a government was formed.
- 17 September 2019 · 22nd Knesset 55
Netanyahu and then Benny Gantz were given the task and failed; no 61 members named anyone else, so the Knesset was deemed dissolved (s.11).
- 2 March 2020 · 23rd Knesset 58
Netanyahu and Gantz formed a rotation government in May 2020; it fell in December 2020 when the budget missed its deadline (Basic Law: The Knesset s.36A).
- 23 March 2021 · 24th Knesset 52
Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid formed a rotation government in June 2021, with Ra'am the first Arab-led party in a coalition; it dissolved itself in June 2022.
- 1 November 2022 · 25th Knesset 64
Netanyahu's bloc won 64 seats; the 37th government took office on 29 December 2022 and served a full term.
Bloc: Likud with the Haredi and religious-Zionist lists that backed Netanyahu (Yisrael Beiteinu's five seats also recommended him in April 2019, but it did not join, so they are left out here; in 2019 also Kulanu; Yamina in September 2019 and March 2020, not in 2021). The line marks 61. Every Knesset since 1949 →