Israeli Exit Polls Point to No Clear Winner in Tight Election

Exit polls released after voting closed in Israel's general election indicate that neither major political camp has secured a clear path to power. The contest has been described by many commentators and voters as the most pivotal in the country's history.

According to the projections, the bloc of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to win 50 seats. The bloc led by opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot is projected to take 52 or 53 seats. A government needs 61 seats to command a majority. Arab parties are forecast to win 18 seats together.

Polling stations closed at 10pm local time (20:00 GMT). Preliminary results are due on Wednesday, with a final tally expected on Friday. Official results are scheduled to be published on November 4, eight days after the vote.

Exit polls draw on interviews conducted with voters right after they cast their ballots. They are used to project the outcome of an election and, in earlier votes, have tended to track the eventual results closely.

Turnout was high. The Central Elections Committee reported that 74.3 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots as of 8pm (18:00 GMT). In the 2022 election, turnout stood at 70.63 percent.

Pre-election polling had pointed to a tight race between Netanyahu, the incumbent, and Eisenkot, who leads the Yashar party and is a former army chief.

In a separate development on election day, the Central Elections Committee rejected a request from Netanyahu's Likud Party to extend voting hours.

The vote is the first in Israel since the country launched its war on Gaza three years ago, following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023. It is widely viewed as a referendum on Netanyahu's handling of those events and the conflicts that followed.