{"id":13740,"date":"2026-11-05T02:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T02:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13740"},"modified":"2026-11-05T02:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T02:34:10","slug":"israels-herzog-accepts-vote-results-opens-talks-on-forming-a-government-israel-election-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=13740","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Herzog accepts vote results, opens talks on forming a government | Israel Election 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Israel\u2019s President Isaac Herzog has\u00a0accepted the certified results<\/a> of last week\u2019s parliamentary elections and begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government.<\/p>\n

The moves on Wednesday dealt a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in the 120-member parliament, while Arab-led parties made historic gains.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe elections are over. Now is the time to face reality,\u201d Herzog said.<\/p>\n

In the October 27 vote, neither Netanyahu\u2019s coalition nor the bloc of his chief rival, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, secured the 61 seats required to govern. The prime minister\u2019s coalition won 53, while Eisonkot\u2019s got 48.<\/p>\n

That leaves open the possibility of an alliance between the two men or an alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties \u2013 Ra\u2019am and the Joint List \u2013 which had secured a record 19 seats.<\/p>\n

Herzog began his consultations with party leaders on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Three factions aligned with Netanyahu\u2019s religious-nationalist base recommended that he be given a chance to form a coalition, while a fourth, led by a former Netanyahu ally turned rival, backed Eisenkot.<\/p>\n

Eight more parties, including the two Arab-led factions, are scheduled to meet with the president on Thursday, with Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar party and Netanyahu\u2019s Likud going last.<\/p>\n

Ra\u2019am backs Eisenkot<\/h2>\n

Eisenkot\u2019s prospects improved when Ra\u2019am, a major Arab-led party, said it would recommend him. That brought his expected support to 56 lawmakers, according to the Israeli news site Ynet, which is still short of a majority.<\/p>\n

The other Arab-led party, the Joint List, has not announced its position. Israel\u2019s Channel 12 reported that the party was expected to coordinate with Eisenkot, endorsing him if asked or abstaining if he preferred. Its 11 seats could push him past 61.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s 53-seat bloc, by contrast, may not yield 53 endorsements.<\/p>\n

Degel HaTorah, which holds four of United Torah Judaism\u2019s seven seats, said it would recommend neither candidate. The ultra-Orthodox faction broke with Netanyahu over his coalition\u2019s failure to pass legislation exempting Haredi men from military service, The Times of Israel reported.<\/p>\n

Once the consultations end, Herzog will choose the candidate he considers best placed to assemble a coalition, almost certainly Netanyahu or Eisenkot. He has several days to announce his decision, after which the nominee will have 28 days to form a government, with a possible 14-day extension.<\/p>\n

If neither man succeeds, Israel would hold another election early next year.<\/p>\n

\u2018No evidence of irregularities\u2019<\/h2>\n

Netanyahu and his supporters meanwhile have repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that the Arab-led parties had \u201cstolen\u201d the election, possibly with foreign assistance.<\/p>\n

But Israel\u2019s elections commission said earlier on Wednesday that it had conducted a thorough investigation of all parties\u2019 claims of fraud and found \u201cno evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results\u201d.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also rejected a request to question elected officials without supporting evidence.<\/p>\n

Herzog urged both camps to compromise to avoid a new election, saying they must accept that \u201cnot every commitment and promise can be fulfilled\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the current reality, in which there is no clear winner after the elections, I ask for originality and creativity, courage and goodwill, so that the State of Israel emerges the winner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also backed investigating the suspected interference but warned against smearing Palestinian-Israeli voters, saying he had \u201cgreat respect\u201d for Israel\u2019s Palestinian minority, which makes up about 20 percent of the population.<\/p>\n

\u201cI condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Israel\u2019s President Isaac Herzog has\u00a0accepted the certified results of last week\u2019s parliamentary elections and begun consultations with party leaders on whom to task with forming the next government. The moves on Wednesday dealt a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s efforts to discredit the vote, in which he and his allies lost their majority in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t