IsPal The Monthly file · October 2026
Understanding Israeli elections
How the vote works, how a majority is built, who sits in the Knesset — and a history of electoral and institutional channels in Israel, which have always coexisted with exclusion, military rule and occupation.
— The editorial team
1. The electoral system
One chamber: the Knesset
Israel is a unicameral parliamentary system. Voters elect the Knesset's 120 members for a term of up to four years; early elections are held if the Knesset votes to dissolve itself or if no government can be formed.
Electoral system: full proportional representation
The whole country is a single national constituency. People vote for a closed party list, not a candidate. Seats are allocated proportionally (D'Hondt, locally called Bader-Ofer), with surplus-vote agreements between lists.
The 3.25% threshold
A list needs at least 3.25% of the vote (about 4 seats) to enter the Knesset. Raised in 2014, the threshold pushed Arab parties to unite in the Joint List, and penalises them when they run separately: votes for lists below the threshold are lost.
The majority: 61 seats
No party has ever won an absolute majority alone. Governing requires a coalition of at least 61 members. After the vote, the president consults the lists and tasks the person most likely to build a majority with forming a government (28 days, extendable by 14). The government takes office after a Knesset confidence vote.
Who votes, who does not
Israeli citizens aged 18 and over vote, including West Bank settlers and Palestinian citizens of Israel (about 16% of the electorate). Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, under Israeli control since 1967, cannot vote; most East Jerusalem Palestinians are residents, not citizens. There is no absentee voting abroad, except for diplomats.
Disqualification of lists
The Central Elections Committee can disqualify a list or candidate (denying the state's 'Jewish and democratic' character, incitement to racism, support for armed struggle). It is regularly used against Arab parties; the Supreme Court has so far overturned most of these bans.
2. From the 2022 seats to the 2026 formations
Seats won in November 2022 (25th Knesset). Lists have since split, merged or been created.
At its formation after the 2022 election, the Netanyahu coalition held 64 of 120 seats. The absolute majority threshold is 61.
Historical reference, not a projection or a 2026 result.
- Likoud
Nationalist right, Benjamin Netanyahu's party.
32 - Yesh Atid
Secular centre, Yair Lapid's 2022 slate; in 2026, he co-leads Together with Naftali Bennett.
24 - Sionisme religieux / Otzma Yehudit
Religious, pro-settlement far right (Smotrich, Ben Gvir).
14 - Unité nationale
2022 centre-right slate around Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot; Eisenkot now leads Yashar, separate from National Unity.
12 - Shas
Sephardi ultra-Orthodox.
11 - Judaïsme unifié de la Torah
Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox.
7 - Israel Beytenou
Secular right, Avigdor Lieberman.
6 - Ra’am
Conservative Islamist Arab list, Mansour Abbas; joined a coalition in 2021.
5 - Hadash-Ta’al
Jewish-Arab left (communists) and Ahmad Tibi.
5 - Travaillistes
Historic Zionist left, since merged with Meretz into 'The Democrats'.
4
Source: Central Elections Committee, results for the 25th Knesset (1 November 2022). Colours distinguish lists; they are not official party colours. Official results
2026 election · who is running
The main lists, by camp
36 lists are running. Below, the ones that matter most, grouped by political camp.
Good to know: the seat charts above show 2022 results. These are 2026 candidates — no result yet.
Netanyahu's bloc (outgoing coalition)
Right, far right and ultra-Orthodox parties currently in government.
Likoud / Likud
Benyamin Netanyahou / Benjamin Netanyahu
Nationalist right and the largest party in the outgoing coalition. Netanyahu seeks to retain power with religious and far-right partners. Its 32 seats from 2022 are a historical result, not its 2026 score.
Sionisme religieux–Zehut / Religious Zionism–Zehut
Bezalel Smotrich · Moshe Feiglin
Religious, pro-settlement far right allied with Netanyahu, joined by Moshe Feiglin's Zehut. The slate is separate from Otzma Yehudit; the fourteen seats of their joint 2022 slate cannot be assigned to it alone.
Otzma Yehudit
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Nationalist far right with roots in the Kahanist movement, headed by the national security minister. A partner in Netanyahu's bloc, Otzma Yehudit is separate from Smotrich's party for this election.
Shas
Aryeh Deri
Sephardi and Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox party and Netanyahu coalition partner. It defends religious institutions, its constituency's interests and continued military-service exemptions for yeshiva students.
Judaïsme unifié de la Torah / United Torah Judaism
Degel HaTorah · Agoudat Israël
Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox alliance of Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael. A Netanyahu-bloc partner, it advocates funding for religious institutions and military-service exemptions. It is a joint slate rather than a single party.
Jewish opposition to Netanyahu
Centre, secular right and Zionist left seeking to replace the government.
Yashar
Gadi Eisenkot
Eisenkot left National Unity in July 2025 and announced Yashar on 16 September 2025. His party is separate from Together, the Bennett–Lapid alliance. Haaretz describes him as the leader of the main anti-Netanyahu bloc in the 23 October 2026 surveys: a polling lead is neither a victory nor a secured majority.
Together / Ensemble
Naftali Bennett · Yair Lapid
The two former prime ministers co-lead Together. For this election, describing Lapid only under his 2022 Yesh Atid label no longer identifies the formation listed in the latest polls.
Israel Beytenou / Yisrael Beiteinu
Avigdor Lieberman
Lieberman's secular right is counted among opponents of Netanyahu's bloc. Being included in the same polling bloc does not mean a governing coalition has already been agreed.
Les Démocrates / The Democrats
Yair Golan
Yair Golan leads the Democrats. The party brings together Labour and Meretz; Labour's four seats in 2022 are not its 2026 election result.
Arab parties
Slates backed by Palestinian citizens of Israel, open to conditional support.
Liste commune / Joint List
Yousef Jabareen
Alliance of Hadash, Ta'al and Balad, combining Jewish-Arab left and Palestinian nationalist currents. It does not include Ra'am. On October 24, Jabareen expressed openness to conditional support for an alternative to Netanyahu, with no secured governing agreement.
Ra’am / Liste arabe unie
Mansour Abbas
Conservative Islamist Arab party, separate from the Joint List. Having joined the Bennett–Lapid coalition in 2021, it pursues negotiation over the rights and needs of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Abbas discusses conditional cooperation with the opposition.
Smaller lists near the threshold
They only enter the Knesset with at least 3.25% of the vote.
Les Réservistes et le Parti économique / The Reservists and the Economic Party
Yoaz Hendel · Yaron Zelekha
Joint slate filed by Yoaz Hendel and economist Yaron Zelekha. It is among the smaller lists whose entry to the Knesset depends on the 3.25% threshold.
Amcha Israël / Amcha Israel
Ofer Winter
New far-right party led by former general Ofer Winter. It remained below the threshold in the three final-campaign surveys cited by Haaretz.
Le Public haredi / The Haredi Public
Motti Leitner
New ultra-Orthodox slate advocating Haredi men's integration into the workforce and core-curriculum education. It was below the threshold in the final surveys cited by Haaretz.
Withdrawn
Kahol Lavan / Bleu et blanc — Benny Gantz. Gantz announced on 19 October 2026 that he would not run. He remains relevant to understanding National Unity in 2022, but is not a candidate competing against Eisenkot in this election.
Sources (checked 27 October 2026): Commission électorale centrale / Central Elections Committee · 25/10/2026Haaretz · 23/10/2026Times of Israel · 16/09/2025Haaretz · 19/10/2026 (Gantz)AFP / Arab News · 24/10/2026
3. A history of electoral channels in Israel
1948
Declaration of Independence promising equality 'irrespective of religion, race or sex'; the Nakba displaces some 750,000 Palestinians. The promised constitution is never adopted.
1949
First elections to the Constituent Assembly, which becomes the Knesset. Ben-Gurion's Mapai dominates for nearly thirty years.
1948–1966
Palestinian citizens vote but live under military rule: travel permits, curfews, land confiscations. Kafr Qasim massacre in 1956.
1958–
Gradual adoption of Basic Laws (Knesset, government, army…), serving as a piecemeal constitution.
1967
Occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem: millions of Palestinians under Israeli rule without the vote, a situation lasting nearly 60 years.
1976
Land Day: six Palestinian citizens killed in protests against land confiscations in the Galilee.
1977
'Mahapakh': first turnover, Menachem Begin's Likud ends Labour hegemony.
1985–1988
The Knesset allows racist lists to be barred; Rabbi Kahane's Kach party is banned.
1992
Basic Laws on Human Dignity and Liberty; the Supreme Court uses them to review legislation ('constitutional revolution'). Rabin governs with outside support from Arab parties.
1995
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords.
1996–2001
Experiment with direct election of the prime minister, abandoned because it further fragmented the Knesset.
2000
October 2000: 13 Palestinian citizens killed by police; Arab turnout collapses in the 2001 vote.
2014–2015
Threshold raised to 3.25%; birth of the Joint List, third force in the Knesset in 2015.
2018
'Nation-State of the Jewish People' Basic Law: self-determination reserved to the Jewish people; Arabic loses official-language status.
2019–2022
Five elections in under four years. In 2021, Ra'am becomes the first Arab party to join a governing coalition.
2023
Judicial overhaul by the most right-wing government in history and mass protests; then October 7 and the Gaza war, sharply restricting Palestinian citizens' political expression.
2026
October 27 elections, after attempts to bar Arab lists were overturned by the Supreme Court.