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Israelis vote on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, in the country's first national election since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, and the wars that followed. The contest is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and, according to an Indian Express explainer of the race, it is also an election that nobody is projected to win outright.
Who is running
The central duel is between Netanyahu's Likud and the new Yashar ("Straight") party led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, 66. Eisenkot served as chief of staff from 2015 to 2019, joined Netanyahu's war cabinet after October 7, and left it in June 2024, saying there was no clear post-war plan. His youngest son, Gal, 25, was killed in Gaza in December 2023. A year ago Eisenkot polled in single digits; most polls now give Yashar 20 to 23 of the 120 Knesset seats, ahead of Likud.
Around 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote, and 38 parties are registered, with about 11 expected to clear the electoral threshold. Other significant players include the joint Bennett-Lapid list, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu, and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties on Netanyahu's side.
Why finishing first does not mean winning
Israelis do not vote directly for a prime minister. They vote for a party list, and all 120 Knesset seats are allocated proportionally, with a 3.25% threshold — roughly four seats — below which a party gets nothing. A government needs the support of 61 members. No party has ever won a majority alone, and every Israeli government has been a coalition.
That arithmetic is why the polls point to deadlock rather than a verdict. In the most detailed published breakdown, a Yossi Tatika poll for Zman Yisrael conducted on October 14–15 (500 respondents, margin of error 4.4 points), Yashar took 26 seats and Likud 20, but Netanyahu's bloc totalled about 49 seats and the opposition about 54 — both short of 61, with Arab parties holding around 13 seats and the rest scattered. In a deadlock, Netanyahu remains prime minister until a new government is formed.
What the election is actually about
Five issues dominate, according to the AIJAC fact sheet on the election and the Indian Express coverage: accountability for the October 7 security failures, including whether there should be a state commission of inquiry; conscription of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men, whose exemptions have become a coalition-breaking issue; judicial reform; the cost of living; and security — the future of the West Bank and Gaza, and how to deal with Iran. For Arab voters, crime ranks among the top two concerns.
The campaign's final days have been sharp. Haaretz reported Eisenkot warning at his final rally that Netanyahu "will stop at nothing to stay in power," while Netanyahu has run what Ynetnews described as a digital blitz in the last 24 hours. Polling stations are open from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Israel time, with official results due on November 4.
What happens after the vote
Expect weeks of coalition negotiations, not a coronation. The real kingmakers may be small parties hovering near the 3.25% threshold: if a small right-wing list fails to clear it, its votes are effectively wasted and Netanyahu's bloc shrinks; if it clears it, the bloc grows. The same logic applies on the other side. Another election cannot be ruled out — Israel has held six elections in seven years, and this vote, like the Brazil runoff decided this week, shows how 2026 is becoming a year in which incumbents face voters after years of war and crisis.
Whoever forms the next government will inherit a heavy national debt, a large defence budget, strained relations with Washington, and a stalled normalisation track. The election on Tuesday decides who gets to try — and, just as importantly, who they will need to persuade to govern at all.