The seats, left to right
61of the 120 seats is a majority. A coalition needs 61 or more to govern.
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The numbers
| # | List | Votes | Share | Seats* |
|---|
*An estimate by this site. See the note under the seats.
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Did you know? How Israeli elections work. Tap to open.
Does a party need 61 seats to rule?
Only if it wants to rule completely alone, and that has never happened. The Knesset has 120 seats, and a government needs the support of more than half of them: 61. Every party is far short of that on its own, so parties join together into a coalition whose seats add up to 61 or more. The biggest party is usually the main partner in it, but it still needs the others.
What is the 3.25% threshold?
A list must win at least 3.25% of the valid votes to get any seats (roughly four seats' worth). Lists below it get nothing, and their votes are not passed to anyone else. Valid votes are all the ballots that were filled in correctly: disqualified ballots are not counted.
How are seats worked out from the votes?
Voters choose a party list, not a person. The seats are shared among the lists that passed the threshold in proportion to their votes, using a method called Bader-Ofer. Pairs of lists can sign a surplus-vote agreement, which lets them share their leftover votes and can decide who gets the last seat or two. The seat chart on this page is this site's own calculation and does not include those agreements, so it can differ by a seat or two from the official allocation.
Does the biggest party get to form the government?
Not automatically. After the official results, the President meets every party and hears who each one recommends as Prime Minister. The President then gives the job to the member of the Knesset who looks most likely to build a majority. That is usually the head of the biggest party, but it can be someone else.
How is a coalition built?
The chosen candidate has 28 days to negotiate, and the President can add up to 14 more. They offer other parties ministries, policies and promises in a coalition agreement, until the parties that sign add up to at least 61 seats. The new government then has to win a vote of confidence in the Knesset and is sworn in. If the first candidate fails, the President can pick another, and if nobody succeeds, the country goes back to elections.
Why do the numbers keep changing?
Ballot boxes report in waves, and each town's boxes are counted at different speeds. Votes from soldiers, diplomats, hospital patients, prisoners and others are cast in double-envelope ballots and counted last, so they can move a seat late in the count. Numbers are only final when the Central Elections Committee publishes the official results, which takes about a week.
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