With 77% of Votes Counted, Opposition Gains Ground; Joint List Proposes Partnership to Oust Netanyahu

The Central Elections Committee in Israel continues to count voters' ballots in the 26th Knesset elections, with results from 77% of the count showing stability for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition bloc, alongside an increase in seats for the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot.

According to the vote count results from 4.4 million voters representing 77% of the electorate, the number of seats for the Change Bloc increased by two seats compared to the previous update, reaching 49 seats, while Netanyahu's camp remained at 54 seats.

The share of Arab parties declined to 17 seats in this update, having lost two seats to the opposition camp.

Netanyahu-led Likud party remains the largest in the Knesset after securing 27 seats, while Yesh Atid party, led by his rival Eisenkot, obtained 22 seats, gaining one additional seat compared to the previous update.

The Yamina alliance led by Naftali Bennett came in third with 12 seats, followed by the Joint List which secured 11 seats, while the left-wing Democrats party led by Yair Golan obtained 8 seats.

The ultra-Orthodox parties United Torah Judaism and Shas each received 7 seats, the same number of seats obtained by Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Our Home party and Itamar Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit.

The United Arab List led by Mansour Abbas and the Religious Zionism party came last, each receiving 6 seats.

Although Netanyahu's camp secured the largest number of seats, it remains far from reaching the required 61 seats needed to form a government.

As for the opposition camp led by Eisenkot, it still needs to ally with both Arab lists together to ensure a chance of forming the next government, which would be unstable due to the lack of homogeneity among the bloc's parties and the refusal of partners within the camp to rely on Arab parties' votes.

In an attempt to urge the Change Bloc regarding its stance on relying on Arab parties to topple Netanyahu's government, Joint List chairman Yusuf Jabarin said: "We will be ready to pave the way for toppling Netanyahu's government."

Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Movement for Change and candidate within the Joint List, said that "the Change Bloc will be able to form a government if it shows courage," adding: "We extend our hand and are ready to help."