'Complete lack of confidence' in Netanyahu, says Eisenkot after Opposition leads in exit polls; Arab parties make gains

Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Tuesday that initial exit polls from the country's pivotal election indicated a ‘complete lack of confidence’ in the veteran premier. "The initial exit poll results indicate a complete lack of confidence in Netanyahu and the October 7 government," Eisenkot said. Israel's opposition chief, Yair Lapid, described Netanyahu's bloc as suffering a ‘crushing defeat’, while left-wing leader Yair Golan said the public had ‘fired the Netanyahu government’.

Arab-majority parties make strong gains in Israel election

Initial exit polls from Israel's general election on Tuesday showed significant gains for the country's Arab-majority parties, whose supporters turned out in large numbers. Projections from Israel's main television channels hinted that the two Arab lists would secure a combined 17 or 18 seats in the 120-member parliament, compared with 10 in the 2022 election.

Also Read: Israel elections: Record voter turnout in decades as Opposition edges ahead of Netanyahu in early projections

Israel exit polls give Opposition a narrow lead

The first exit polls from Israel's election showed the opposition bloc with a slight advantage over Netanyahu's camp as voting concluded on Tuesday. However, the projected results left the opposition short of an outright majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The country's main pollsters, Channels 11, 12 and 13, projected that the opposition bloc would win 52 or 53 seats, while Netanyahu's bloc was expected to secure around 50. His Likud party was projected to remain the largest single party in parliament, with 24 or 25 seats.

Israeli Arab parties also gained ground following strong turnout among their supporters. Exit polls projected that the two Arab-majority groupings, Raam and the Joint List, would win 17 or 18 seats between them. In the previous election, Likud secured 32 seats, allowing Netanyahu to form a coalition with smaller far-right parties after his traditional allies hesitated to work with him amid the corruption cases he faced.

This time, mainstream right-wing parties largely pledged to work with the main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party, which was projected to win between 21 and 23 seats. The parties aimed to form an opposition coalition capable of removing Netanyahu from power. Although Raam and the Joint List are not part of the opposition bloc, both have expressed openness to supporting it.