Israel’s Central Elections Committee has validated last week’s parliamentary vote, saying it found no evidence of fraud. The decision is a setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has sought to cast doubt on the outcome.
The certification was formally announced at a ceremony at President Isaac Herzog’s residence. Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg told attendees that people questioning the results posed “a real danger” to Israel’s democracy.
Committee finds no irregularities across polling stations
The committee said it reviewed 9,069 polling stations and found no irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election or changed its results. Its acting director, Dean Livne, said every complaint had been examined on its own merits, and that the results accurately reflected how people had voted.
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Within the five-member presidium, representatives of Yesh Atid and Blue and White backed ratification, while Likud and Shas abstained. Sohlberg, who chairs the body, cast the deciding vote.
Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly alleged, without offering proof, that Arab-led parties “stole” the election, possibly with help from abroad.
Shin Bet claims and calls to block certification
After the vote, the internal security agency Shin Bet told the committee that its intelligence pointed to large-scale foreign funding and influence operations involving “thousands of people and possibly more”. Law enforcement sources told a local newspaper that they were not aware of any operation of that size.
The Shin Bet is reportedly seeking to question four Arab politicians, but has not supplied prosecutors with evidence on three of them. Likud accused Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of blocking the interrogations. She, in turn, effectively accused Shin Bet chief David Zini, a Netanyahu appointee, of undermining the rule of law, according to reports.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Zini to arrest all Arab party leaders and question them in Shin Bet cells, even without the attorney general’s approval. He also called for a freeze on certification and on forming a government. Writing on X, Ben-Gvir said, “The elections were stolen, the results are fraudulent, foreign countries interfered”, adding that his far-right Otzma Yehudit party would vote against approving the results.
Likud legislator Amit Halevi resigned from the committee. He alleged that some lawmakers “bought their seats with bribe money” and that the vote reflected “the choice of the rulers of Qatar, Iran or Turkey”.
Likud’s options and the route to a governing coalition
A local newspaper reported that Likud had weighed refusing to recognise the results altogether. Such a move would be unprecedented in Israel and would likely be swiftly overturned by the courts.
Sohlberg rejected a Likud demand to discuss the results before certifying them. He wrote that no party, “however distinguished or senior”, could hold back their publication. He has also said that even if foreign interference were confirmed, it would not undermine the overall result. Qatar has rejected claims that it funded Arab-led parties, describing them as disinformation.
The results were handed to Herzog on Wednesday. He will hold two days of consultations with party leaders before choosing the candidate best placed to build a coalition. Breaking with custom, he is expected to meet the smaller parties first, beginning with Religious Zionism, followed by Shas and Yisrael Beytenu. The remaining factions are expected to meet him on Thursday, with Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar and then Likud going last, according to reports.
The Netanyahu-led bloc won 53 seats, while Eisenkot’s party took 48. The Arab-led parties Ra’am and the Joint List secured a record 19. Neither side reached the 61 seats needed to govern. That deadlock raises the possibility of a unity government or an alliance between Eisenkot and Arab-led parties. If no coalition can be formed, Israel would hold another election early next year.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said the Democrats’ victory in the US Congress in the midterm elections had ruled out a unity government led by Netanyahu, a close ally of President Donald Trump. “Israel cannot afford to let him remain prime minister,” Lapid wrote on X.
