Minor seat shifts in Netanyahu bloc as counting of special ballots continues

By Lina Altawell

ISTANBUL (AA) - A minor change emerged in Israel’s election results Thursday as counting of special “double-envelope” ballots continues, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party gaining one seat at the expense of its bloc ally Shas, according to Israeli media.

The overall seat count between the main political blocs remained unchanged, however, The Times of Israel reported, citing partial results released by the Central Elections Committee.

Netanyahu’s bloc remained at 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the bloc led by Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot held 48 seats – both falling short of a governing majority of 61.

“The Arab parties are steady at 19 seats, a record high,” the outlet said.

The change occurred within Netanyahu’s bloc, with Likud gaining one seat while the ultra-Orthodox Shas party lost one, leaving the bloc’s overall total unchanged.

So far, over 295,600 double-envelope ballots have been counted out of an estimated 430,000 to 480,000, according to the Central Elections Committee.

Double-envelope ballots are used by voters casting their ballots away from their registered polling stations, including soldiers, diplomats, police officers and displaced residents.

Officials check identification details on the outer envelope to prevent duplicate voting before separating it from the anonymous ballot for counting.

The remaining ballots could still alter individual parties’ seat totals and potentially affect the balance between the rival blocs.

After all regular ballots were counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected to win 53 seats, compared to 48 for Eisenkot’s opposition bloc and 19 for predominantly Arab parties.

Neither main bloc has secured the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.

The Joint List was projected to win 12 seats and the United Arab List (Ra’am) seven, giving Arab parties a record combined representation of 19 seats.

Voter turnout reached 77.7%, the highest since 1999, according to the Central Elections Committee.