Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Israeli "Yesh Atid" party, announced his focus on bringing about change and forming a "Zionist conscription government," considering that Israelis expressed their lack of confidence in the government of October 7, 2023. This came in his first comment on Wednesday evening regarding the preliminary election results after nearly 90 percent of votes were counted.
In the same context, Eisenkot pointed out in a post on the "X" platform that he is focusing on the heavy task ahead of them, which is to form a government that reflects the will of the people who expressed their lack of confidence in Netanyahu's government and evasion of military service. He added that he feels the weight of responsibility and the magnitude of trust bestowed upon him by hundreds of thousands of citizens.
For his part, Netanyahu's camp secured 53 seats compared to 48 for the opposition led by Eisenkot and 19 for Arab parties, after 88.6 percent of votes were counted. No party managed to secure the necessary majority to form the government, which requires 61 seats out of 120 in the Knesset.
The results indicated that the "Likud" party, led by Netanyahu, took the lead with 26 seats, while the "Yesh Atid" party came in second with 21 seats. The "Yamina" party, led by Naftali Bennett, obtained 12 seats, as did the Joint Arab List led by Yousef Jabareen. The "Democrats" party won 8 seats, and the "Israel Beiteinu" party won 7 seats.
It added that the process of counting sealed envelopes, expected to range between 430,000 and 480,000 votes, will begin at 1:00 AM on Thursday. The Elections Committee had announced on Tuesday evening that the turnout reached 77.7 percent, the highest since 1999.
Netanyahu and Eisenkot agree on rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state, despite UN resolutions stipulating its establishment under the "two-state solution" principle. The results remain non-final as the counting of the remaining voters' ballots continues.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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