Ruling party falls short of majority in Israeli general election; Prime Minister says Arab parties are buying votes

[Jerusalem Current Affairs] In the early hours of the 30th, the Israeli Election Commission announced the final results of the general election (120 seats in the parliament), which was held on the 27th, and it was confirmed that Prime Minister Netanyahu's ruling party would fall short of the majority. With coalition negotiations in focus, Netanyahu claimed on the 29th that Arab parties that had gained momentum had bought votes. The move appears to be aimed at disrupting cooperation between anti-Netanyahu forces.

Ruling and opposition camps fall short of majority - right-wing Likud party - Netanyahu keen to continue in power - Israeli general election

According to the election commission, the ruling party bloc won 53 seats and Jewish anti-Netanyahu forces won 48 seats. The two Arab parties won 19 seats.

Likud, headed by Netanyahu, remained the largest party, but lost five seats from 32 to 27. The opposition party Yashar, led by former military chief of staff Eisenkot, won 21 seats. Meanwhile, Arab parties almost doubled from 10 seats. This appears to be due to an increase in voter turnout among Arab citizens due to opposition to the Netanyahu government, which is dominated by hard-line far-right forces against Palestine.

Israeli media reported on the 29th that the top election official sent a letter to the domestic security agency Shabak (Shin Bet) instructing it to investigate foreign funding and vote buying. In response, Netanyahu claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that the election had been stolen due to fraud by Arab parties. He emphasized that he should not cooperate with Arab political parties.

However, in a statement, the National Election Commission countered, saying, ``Claims that the fairness of the election was systematically undermined are baseless.'' Shabak also urged that "an entire group of people who voted democratically and legally" should not be vilified.