Legislative elections were held in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on 1 November 2022 to elect the 120 members of the 25th Knesset. The results saw the right-wing

national camp In Israeli politics, the national camp ( he, המחנה הלאומי) or right-wing bloc is an informal coalition of nationalist and right-wing, religious conservative political parties that since 1977 has frequently co-operated to form government ...

of former prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

achieving a parliamentary majority, amid losses for left-wing and Arab parties, as well as far-right gains. After the

2021 Israeli legislative election Legislative elections were held in Israel on 23 March 2021 to elect the 120 members of the 24th Knesset. It was the fourth election in two years. Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett announced that they had formed a rotation government on 2 June 20 ...

, the next elections had been scheduled for no later than 11 November 2025 according to the four-year term limit set by Basic Law: The Government. The

thirty-sixth government of Israel The thirty-sixth government of Israel, or the Bennett–Lapid government, was the cabinet of Israel that was formed on 13 June 2021 after the 2021 Israeli legislative election. On 2 June 2021, a coalition agreement was signed between Yesh At ...

, a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nat ...

formed between eight political parties following those elections, held the narrowest possible majority (61 seats) in the 120-member

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

. In April 2022, MK Idit Silman quit the governing coalition and left it without a majority. On 20 June 2022, following several legislative defeats for the governing coalition in the Knesset, prime minister Naftali Bennett and alternate prime minister

Yair Lapid Yair Lapid ( he, יָאִיר לַפִּיד, transliterated: , ; born 5 November 1963) is an Israeli politician and former journalist who has been serving as the 14th prime minister of Israel since 1 July 2022. He previously served as the alt ...

announced the introduction of a bill to dissolve the

24th Knesset The members of the 24th Knesset were elected on 23 March 2021. The 24th Knesset dissolved itself on 30 June 2022 triggering snap elections held on 1 November 2022. Members of the Knesset Replacements See also *Thirty-sixth government of I ...

, which was approved on 30 June. Simultaneously, in accordance with the

rotation government A rotation government is one of the ways of forming of a government in a parliamentary state. It is a government that, during its term, will see the individual holding the post of prime minister switch (or "rotate"), whether within the same polit ...

agreement that was part of the 2021 coalition deal, Lapid became prime minister and leads a

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

until a new government takes office following the election that took place on 1 November. Within the context of the 2019–2022 Israeli political crisis, this was the fifth legislative election in nearly four years, as no party since 2019 had been able to form a stable coalition. 40

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

registered to run for these elections, although only twelve to fourteen parties were projected to make the 3.25% minimum to win at least one seat under Israel's

closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

system for the Knesset's 120 seats. Ten parties ultimately succeeded in crossing the electoral threshold. On 21 December, Netanyahu announced that he had succeeded in forming a coalition consisting of 64 MKs.

Background

The extended period of political deadlock that led up to the election was the result of four inconclusive elections ( April 2019, September 2019,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

, and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

). In April and September 2019, neither incumbent

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel ( he, רֹאשׁ הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה, Rosh HaMemshala, Head of the Government, Hebrew acronym: he2, רה״מ; ar, رئيس الحكومة, ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief exe ...

, nor leader of the main opposition party Blue and White,

Benny Gantz Benjamin Gantz ( he, בִּנְיָמִין "בֵּנִי" גַּנְץ, Transliterated: ; born 9 June 1959) is an Israeli politician and retired army general serving as the minister of Defense since 2020 and deputy prime minister of Israel si ...

, was able to muster a 61-seat governing majority, leading to fresh elections. In March 2020, these resulted in the formation of a unity government, the

thirty-fifth government of Israel The thirty-fifth government of Israel ( he, מֶמְשֶׁלֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל הַשְׁלוֹשִׁים וְחָמֵשׁ, Mem'shelet Yisra'el HaShloshim VeHamesh), or the Netanyahu–Gantz government, was the government of Israel which w ...

, between Netanyahu and Gantz, which collapsed in December following a budgetary dispute, leading to another election in March 2021. The 2021 election led to the formation of another unity government, this one between eight political parties, with the leader of the Yamina party, Naftali Bennett, and the leader of

Yesh Atid Yesh Atid ( he, יֵשׁ עָתִיד, , There Is a Future) is a liberal political party in Israel. Founded by Yair Lapid in 2012, it seeks to represent what it considers the centre of Israeli society: the secular middle class. It focuses pri ...

, becoming prime minister and

Alternate Prime Minister of Israel The alternate prime minister of Israel ( he, ראש הממשלה החליפי, translit=Rosh ha-memshela ha-ḥalifi) is the ''de facto'' deputy of the prime minister of Israel and the second highest ranking cabinet minister, who is designated t ...

, respectively. Bennett and Lapid agreed to rotate their positions after two years, with Lapid becoming the prime minister and Bennett becoming the alternate prime minister. Upon the government's formation in June 2021, it held 61 seats in the

; all these members of the Knesset (MK) came from coalition parties excluding Yamina's Amichai Chikli. On 6 April 2022, Yamina MK Idit Silman, resigned from the coalition, causing the governing coalition to lose its majority in the Knesset. Silman cited a decision from Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz, to enforce a court ruling allowing hospital visitors to enter with ''

chametz ''Chametz'' (also ''chometz'', ', ''ḥameṣ'', ''ḥameç'' and other spellings transliterated from he, חָמֵץ / חמץ; ) are foods with leavening agents that are forbidden on the Jewish holiday of Passover. According to halakha, Jews ...

'' ( leavened bread) during

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

, which is forbidden under

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

, and other religion-related actions of the coalition. On 19 May,

Meretz Meretz ( he, מֶרֶצ, ) is a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It currently has no seats in the Kness ...

MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi resigned from the coalition, alleging that the government had adopted a hardline stance on the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...

and related issues, and lowering its number of seats in the Knesset to a minority of 59. She rejoined the coalition three days later. On 7 June, she joined the opposition in voting down a bill that would have renewed the application of Israeli law in the West Bank settlements, which was set to expire in July. The bill was supported by the government. On 13 June, Yamina MK Nir Orbach left the coalition, arguing that left-wing members of the coalition were holding it hostage. On 20 June, Bennett and Lapid announced the introduction of a bill to dissolve the Knesset in a joint statement, stating that Lapid would become the interim prime minister following the dissolution. The dissolution of the Knesset automatically delayed the expiration date of the ordinances until 90 days after the formation of the next government. The bill to dissolve the Knesset passed its first reading on 28 June. The bill passed its third reading on 29 June and the date for elections was set for 1 November 2022. Bennett opted to retire from politics and not seek reelection; he resigned as the leader of Yamina on 29 June, and was succeeded by

Ayelet Shaked Ayelet Shaked (; he, אַיֶּילֶת שָׁקֵד; born 7 May 1976) is an Israeli politician, activist, and software engineer currently serving as Minister of Interior. She served as a member of the Knesset for The Jewish Home from 2013 to ...

. On 30 June, in accordance with the coalition agreement, Lapid succeeded Bennett as the caretaker prime minister.

Campaign

Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem, November 2022 (GPOHZ0 0654)

On 10 July, Blue and White and New Hope formed a joint list, known as Blue and White – The New Hope, excluding Derekh Eretz that ran as part of New Hope in 2021. On 14 August, the list was joined by former

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Af ...

, Gadi Eizenkot, as well as Yamina MKs Matan Kahana and

Shirly Pinto Shirly Pinto ( he, שירלי פינטו; born 15 March 1989) is an Israeli Deaf social-political activist, who served as Member of Knesset for National Unity. Pinto is fluent in Israeli Sign Language as well as Hebrew, and is one of the fou ...

, and was subsequently renamed the

National Unity Party The National Unity Party, National United Party, Party of National Unity or National Unity Front may refer to: * National United Party of Afghanistan (founded 2003) * National Unity Party (Albania) * National United Party (Armenia), defunct * Nati ...

. On 27 July, Yamina formed a joint list with Derekh Eretz, known as Zionist Spirit. The alliance dissolved on 11 September. On 13 September, Yamina announced a joint run with

The Jewish Home The Jewish Home ( he, הַבַּיִת הַיְהוּדִי, HaBayit HaYehudi) is an Orthodox Jewish and religious Zionist political party in Israel. It was originally formed by a merger of the National Religious Party, Moledet, and Tkuma in ...

. that day, Derekh Eretz withdrew from the race. On 14 September, the Religious Zionist Party, Noam and Otzma Yehudit submitted a single list. On 15 September, several minutes before the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

submission deadline, the Joint List dissolved, with Balad and Hadash–Ta'al submitting two separate lists. In August, Israel launched Operation Breaking Dawn, resulting in clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups. The operation was supported by members of the opposition, including Netanyahu, Religious Zionist Party leader

Bezalel Smotrich Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (, born 27 February 1980) is an Israeli lawyer and far-right politician. The leader of the Religious Zionist Party, he previously served as a Knesset member for Yamina. Biography Bezalel Smotrich was born in Haspin, a ...

, and

Shas Shas ( he, ש״ס) is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily ...

leader

Aryeh Deri Aryeh Makhlouf Deri (, ), also Arie Deri, Arye Deri, or Arieh Deri (born 17 February 1959), is an Israeli politician. He is one of the founders of the Shas political party, and has served as Israel's Minister of the Interior, Minister of the ...

Timeline

* 1 September — Deadline for submitting an application for registration of a new party to the Registrar of Parties for the purpose of running in this election * 11 September — Publication of the final list of parties running * 14–15 September — Date of submission of the lists of candidates to the Election Committee * 22 September — Deadline for filing a petition requesting disqualification of a list or candidate from running * 18 October — Beginning of television and radio advertising window * 1 November — Election date * 9 November — Deadline for the publication of the final election results * 15 November – 25th Knesset sworn in

Electoral system

The 120 seats in the

are elected by

in a single nationwide constituency. The

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

for the election is 3.25%. In the

Israeli-occupied territories Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to ...

, only the settlers have the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

Surplus-vote agreements

Two parties could sign a surplus vote agreement that allowed them to compete for leftover seats as if they were running together on the same list, a system known as

apparentment Apparentment is the name given to the system, sometimes provided for in elections conducted according to the party-list proportional representation system, which allows parties to specify electoral alliances. The system has been used in Switzerla ...

. The Bader–Ofer method slightly favours larger lists, meaning that alliances are more likely to receive leftover seats than parties would be individually. If the alliance were to receive leftover seats, the Bader–Ofer calculation would be applied privately to determine how the seats are divided among the two allied lists. The following parties signed surplus vote-sharing agreements for the 2022 election: *

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

and

Likud Likud ( he, הַלִּיכּוּד, HaLikud, The Consolidation), officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major centre-right to right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel S ...

and Religious Zionist Party *

and

and United Torah Judaism * Pirate Party of Israel and Yesh Kivun

Political parties

Factions before the election

The table below lists the parliamentary factions represented in the 24th Knesset.

Retiring incumbents

The table below lists all members of the Knesset (MK) who did not stand for re-election.

Contesting parties

Forty parties initially submitted lists to participate in the elections, however, one party withdrew, leaving 39 parties. Among these, were the following: * Ale Yarok * Balad *

Economic Freedom Party The Economic Freedom Party (EFP) is a political party in Kenya. History The EFP was established in March 2017 by politicians from Mandera County including Senator Billow Kerrow and MPs Mohamed Huka and Fathia Mabub after they had left the U ...

*Fiery Youth * Free Democratic Israel *

Ihud Bnei HaBrit Ihud Bnei HaBrit (; ; ) is an Israeli political party that participated in the April 2019 Israeli legislative election. It is mostly an Arab Christian party, with some Jewish and Muslim support. For the September 2019 Israeli legislative elec ...

* Hadash–Ta'al *

National Unity Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: T ...

* New Economic Party *

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties around the world. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy (including e-democracy) or alternatively participation in government, reform of copyright and patent law, free shari ...

Religious Zionism Religious Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת דָּתִית, translit. ''Tziyonut Datit'') is an ideology that combines Zionism and Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as ''Dati Leumi'' ( "National Religious"), and in Israel, th ...

* United Arab List * United Torah Judaism *

Yisrael Beiteinu Yisrael Beiteinu ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּיתֵנוּ, russian: Наш Дом Израиль, lit. ''Israel Our Home'') is a secularist, nationalist right-wing political party in Israel. The party's base was originally secular Russia ...

Not running

* Derekh Eretz dropped out of the race on 13 September 2022.

Leadership elections and primaries

Leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...

s were held by some parties to determine party leadership ahead of the election.

Primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s were held by some parties in advance of the national election to determine the composition of their

Balad

Balad party leader

Sami Abu Shehadeh Sami Abu Shehadeh ( ar, سامي ابو شحادة, he, סָאמִי אַבּוּ שְׁחַאדַה) is an Israeli Arab politician. He is the leader of Balad, and served as a member of the Knesset for the Joint List from 2019 to 2022. Biog ...

gained another term as party leader in a vote held by party members on 6 August.

Hadash

Hadash Hadash ( he, חד״ש, lit=New), an acronym for ''HaHazit HaDemokratit LeShalom uLeShivion'' ( he, הַחֲזִית הַדֶּמוֹקְרָטִית לְשָׁלוֹם וּלְשִׁוְיוֹן, lit=The Democratic Front for Peace and Equalit ...

held its party primary on 13 August. Party head

Ayman Odeh Ayman Odeh ( ar, أيمن عودة, he, אַיְּימָן עוֹדֶה; born 1 January 1975) is an Israeli Arab lawyer and politician. He is a member of Knesset and leader of the Hadash party. Biography Ayman Odeh was born in 1975, and raised ...

was re-elected.

Labor

The leadership primary for the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The p ...

was held on 18 July, where party leader Merav Michaeli defeated party secretary general Eran Hermoni in a historic consecutive win by a party leader. The Israeli Labor Party primaries took place on 9 August.

Likud

did not face a challenge for the party leadership. Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, a former health minister and speaker of the Knesset, had initially stated an intent to challenge Netanyahu in 2021 but announced in late June 2022 that he would not do so. Netanyahu last faced an internal leadership challenge in 2019, when he defeated

Gideon Sa'ar Gideon Moshe Sa'ar ( he, גִּדְעוֹן סַעַר; born 9 December 1966) is an Israeli politician who has served as Minister of Justice since June 2021. Sa'ar was previously a member of the Knesset for the Likud between 2003 and 2014, as De ...

by a large margin; Sa'ar then left the Likud in 2020 to form New Hope. The planned leadership primary was cancelled on 19 July, as no one besides Netanyahu contested it. Likud is one of several Israeli parties that allows its membership to determine a portion of the party's

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

. The Likud's electoral list is composed of candidates selected by four methods: national primary elections, regional representatives (chosen from 10 regions), slots set aside for minorities, and slots filled by the party leader (Netanyahu). The primaries took place on 10 August. Contenders included Netanyahu's economic advisor Avi Simhon,

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

former MK Moshe Feiglin, and former MK

Ayoob Kara Ayoob Kara ( ar, أيوب قرا, he, איוב קרא; born 12 March 1955) is an Israeli Druze politician. He has served as a member of the Knesset for Likud in four spells between 1999 and 2021, and as Minister of Communications. Biography ...

. A Likud party committee moved the minority slot to a low position on the party list (No. 44), making it unlikely that the candidate selected to fill the slot would be elected. This move angered the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

, including Likud MK

Fateen Mulla Fateen Mulla ( ar, فطين ملا, he, פַטִין מוּלָא, born 15 June 1960) is an Israeli Druze politician. He served as a member of the Knesset for Likud in two spells between 2019 and 2022 and served as Deputy Minister in the Prime M ...

, who currently fills the Likud minority seat.

Meretz

Yair Golan announced on 6 July that he would run in the

leadership primary and challenge incumbent Nitzan Horowitz. Horowitz announced on 12 July that he would not run in the leadership election. Former party leader Zehava Gal-On announced on 19 July that she will also run. The election committee of the party selected 23 August as the date for the party primary and the leadership primary. Gal-On defeated Golan, returning to her former position as Meretz leader.

Religious Zionist

The Religious Zionist Party held its primaries digitally on 23 August. The candidate deadline was 2 August.

Ta'al

Ta'al held its party primary on 27 August. Party leader

Ahmad Tibi Ahmad Tibi ( ar, أحمد الطيبي, , he, אַחְמָד טִיבִּי, , sometimes spelled Ahmed Tibi; born 19 December 1958) is a Palestinian-Israeli politician. The leader of the Ta'al party, he has served as a member of the Knesset s ...

was re-elected.

United Arab List

Mansour Abbas was approved for another term as the party leader of the United Arab List on 6 August.

Opinion polls

This graph shows the polling trends from the

until the next election day using a 4-poll

moving average In statistics, a moving average (rolling average or running average) is a calculation to analyze data points by creating a series of averages of different subsets of the full data set. It is also called a moving mean (MM) or rolling mean and is ...

. Scenario polls are not included here. For parties not crossing the

(currently 3.25%) in any given poll, the number of seats is calculated as a percentage of the 120 total seats.

Results

The official body administering the elections, the Central Election Committee for the 25th Knesset, released the final official results of the elections on 9 November and the chairman of the committee, Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Amit, presented them to the President Herzog. The official results showed that of 6,788,804 total eligible voters, 4,794,593 cast their ballots, representing a 70.63% turnout rate. 0.62% were declared invalid or spoiled. The detailed breakdown of results is as follows:

Members of the Knesset who lost their seats

File:Likud (ha'Likud) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Likud Party (ha'Likud) in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Yesh Atid electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Yesh Atid Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit (ha'Tzionut ha'Datit-Otzma Yehudit) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Religious Zionism-Otzma Yehudit (ha'Tzionut ha'Datit-Otzma Yehudit) joint list in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:National Unity (ha'Machane ha'Mamlakhti) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the National Unity Party (ha'Machane ha'Mamlakhti) in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Shas electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Shas Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:United Torah Judaism (Yahadut ha'Tora) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the United Torah Judaism (Yahadut ha'Tora) Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Yisrael Beitenu electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Yisrael Beiteinu Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Ra'am electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the United Arab List (Ra'am Party) in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Hadash-Ta'al electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Hadash-Ta'al joint list in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Israel Labor Party (haAvoda) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Israel Labor Party (ha'Avoda) in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Meretz electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Meretz Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:Balad electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Balad Party in the elections to the 25th Knesset File:The Jewish Home (ha'Bait ha'Yehudi) electoral support in the elections to the 25th Knesset.jpg, Electoral support for the Jewish Home Party (ha'Bait ha'Yehudi) in the elections to the 25th Knesset

Aftermath

Isaac Herzog in the Knesset, November 2022 (KBG GPO175541 2)

With 86% of the vote counted, the right-wing bloc led by

, known in Israel as the

, was forecasted to win a majority of seats at 65, while both leftist

and Balad parties were under the

. As all the votes were counted, they remained under the threshold; far-right parties saw a surge in their vote share. In terms of votes, both blocs were neck-and-neck, with the anti-Netanyahu bloc achieving 49.5% but not gaining enough seats due to Meretz and Balad narrowly missing the electoral threshold, as 289,000 anti-Netanyahu votes went wasted in terms of seats share. Orly Ades, head of Israel's election panel

Central Elections Committee The Israeli Central Elections Committee ( he, ועדת הבחירות המרכזית, ''Va'adet HaBehirot HaMerkazit'') is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committe ...

, said Netanyahu's party

tried to undermine voting supervision, and described their actions as "something we've never seen before". Netanyahu's bloc went on to win 64 seats, while the coalition led by the incumbent prime minister

won 51 seats. In addition to Meretz and Balad, the right-wing party

also failed to cross the electoral threshold. The new majority has been variously described as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, as well as its most religious government. Lapid conceded to Netanyahu, and congratulated him, wishing him luck "for the sake of the Israeli people". Netanyahu received congratulatory messages from leaders around the world, including those of Canada, France, Hungary, India, Italy, Jordan, Sudan, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others. On 15 November, the swearing-in ceremony for the newly elected members of the 25th Knesset was held during the opening session. The incoming Knesset includes 29 female lawmakers, 7 less than the last Knesset, and 28 new parliamentarians. The vote to appoint a new Speaker of the Knesset, which is usually conducted at the opening session, and the swearing in of cabinet members were postponed since ongoing coalition negotiations had not yet resulted in agreement on these positions. The vote to replace incumbent Knesset speaker

Mickey Levy Mickey Levy ( he, מִיקִי לֵוִי, born 21 June 1951) is an Israeli politician who currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid and is a former Speaker of the Knesset. He served as Deputy Minister of Finance between 2013 an ...

was scheduled for 13 December, after Likud and its allies secured the necessary number of signatures for it. Yariv Levin of Likud was elected as an interim speaker by 64 votes, while his opponents

Meirav Ben-Ari Meirav Ben-Ari ( he, מֵירַב בֶּן־אֲרִי‎, born 13 November 1975) is an Israeli politician. She currently serves as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid and was previously a member of the Knesset for Kulanu between 2015 and 2019 ...

of Yesh Atid and

of Hadash got 45 and five votes respectively.

Government formation

Israeli legislative election, November 2022 (KBG GPO1 4)

On 3 November 2022, Netanyahu told his aide Yariv Levin to begin informal coalition talks with allied parties after 97% of the vote was counted. Netanyahu himself started holding talks on 6 November. He first met with

Moshe Gafni Moshe Gafni ( he, מֹשֶׁה גַּפְנִי, born 5 May 1952) is an Israeli politician, Member of the Knesset, and leader of the Ashkenazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism. Early life Born in Tel Aviv, Gafni was educated in a yeshiva, and ...

, the leader of the Degel HaTorah faction of United Torah Judaism, and then with Yitzhak Goldknopf, the leader of the United Torah Judaism alliance and its

Agudat Yisrael Agudat Yisrael ( he, אֲגוּדָּת יִשְׂרָאֵל, lit., ''Union of Israel'', also transliterated ''Agudath Israel'', or, in Yiddish, ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party re ...

faction. Meanwhile, the Religious Zionist Party leader

and the leader of its Otzma Yehudit faction Itamar Ben-Gvir pledged that they would not enter the coalition without the other faction. Gafni later met with Smotrich for coalition talks. Smotrich then met with Netanyahu. On 7 November, Netanyahu met with Ben-Gvir. A major demand among all of Netanyahu's allies was that the Knesset be allowed to ignore the rulings of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. Netanyahu met with the Noam faction leader and its sole MK

Avi Maoz Avigdor "Avi" Maoz ( he, אֲבִיגְדוֹר "אָבִי" מָעוֹז, born 6 July 1956)

on 8 November. Israeli President

Isaac Herzog Isaac "Bougie" Herzog ( he, יצחק "בוז׳י" הרצוג, Yitskhak "Buzhi" Hertsog; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving as the 11th president of Israel since 2021. He is the first president to be born in ...

began consultations with heads of all political parties on 9 November after the election results were certified.

met with Likud for coalition talks on 10 November. By 11 November, Netanyahu had secured recommendations from 64 MKs, which constituted a majority. He was given the mandate to form the thirty-seventh government of Israel by President Herzog on 13 November. Otzma Yehudit and Noam officially split from Religious Zionism on 20 November as per a pre-election agreement. Likud signed a coalition agreement with Otzma Yehudit on 25 November. with Noam on 27 November, the Religious Zionist Party on 1 December, United Torah Judaism on 6 December, and with Shas on 8 December. Netanyahu asked Herzog for a 14-day extension after the agreement with Shas in order to finalise the roles his allied parties would play. Herzog on 9 December extended the deadline to 21 December. On that date, Netanyahu informed Herzog that he had succeeded in forming a coalition, with the new government expected to be sworn in by 2 January 2023.

Notes

References

External links

Elections for the 25th Knesset
at the Israeli

News and commentary
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