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Benny Gantz drops out of Israel's election race

Benny Gantz drops out of Israel's election race

Force in Play

His party's ballots were void. The election he left behind produced no majority: Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats, the opposition at 48, Arab-led parties at a record 19

October 30th, 2026: Final results: no bloc reaches 61 seats

Overview

Updated Oct 30

Blue and White finished withdrawing from the October 27 election on October 21, when every candidate on Benny Gantz's list signed resignation papers and the Central Elections Committee confirmed the party will not compete. Its ballot slips, printed with the letters "Ken," will not be handed out and are marked with an X on polling-station posters. Any slips found during the count, including at military and overseas polling stations, will be ruled invalid.

Polls in the final week put the blocs in a virtual tie. The four opposition parties behind Gadi Eisenkot, plus Yoaz Hendel's Reservists-Economic party, are at about 58 seats against roughly 49 for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, with 61 needed for a majority. Eisenkot and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman urged voters to back only lists likely to clear the 3.25 percent threshold, while an internal coalition poll found about a quarter of Gantz's supporters could move to Ofer Winter's People of Israel party.

Why it matters

With both blocs short of a majority, a few thousand votes at the threshold could decide who governs Israel.

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Key Indicators

53
Netanyahu bloc seats
Final certified seats for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc in the 120-member Knesset, short of the 61 needed for a majority.
48
Opposition bloc seats
Final certified seats for the bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot, which has begun talks on replacing Netanyahu.
19
Arab-led parties
Seats won by Arab-led parties, a record high, leaving them pivotal to any coalition.

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People Involved

Benny Gantz
Benny Gantz
Former defense minister and IDF chief of staff, leader of Blue and White party
Out of the race; Blue and White was absent from the October 27 ballot, and he urged supporters to vote anyway
 Gadi Eisenkot
Gadi Eisenkot
Leader of Yashar party, former IDF chief of staff, potential prime minister candidate
His opposition bloc won 48 seats; talks on replacing Netanyahu began, including contacts with Ra'am's Mansour Abbas
 Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister, Likud leader
His bloc won 53 seats and lost its parliamentary majority; he opened coalition talks with far-right allies on October 29
 Yoaz Hendel
Yoaz Hendel
Centrist politician, ideologically closest to Gantz
Courting voters who backed Gantz, according to The Times of Israel
PT
Pnina Tamano-Shata
Blue and White's No. 2 and former immigration minister
Backed Gantz's decision to pull the party from the election
OW
Ofer Winter
Leader of the People of Israel party, former IDF brigadier general
Courting Blue and White voters; his list has polled between four and five seats, near or below the electoral threshold
 Avigdor Liberman
Avigdor Liberman
Leader of Yisrael Beytenu, member of the opposition bloc
Part of the opposition bloc, which won 48 seats and has begun talks on forming a government

Organizations Involved

Blue and White (Kahol Lavan)
Blue and White (Kahol Lavan)
Political party
Did not appear on the October 27 ballot; its slips were ruled invalid in the count

Centrist party led by Benny Gantz, which withdrew from the October 27 election after polling below the 3.25 percent threshold.
Likud
Likud
Political party
Leads Netanyahu's bloc, which won 53 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority

Netanyahu's right-wing party, locked in a tight race with the opposition alliance.
Yashar
Yashar
Political party
Eisenkot's opposition bloc won 48 seats; talks on replacing Netanyahu began after the results

Party led by Gadi Eisenkot, part of the self-styled Zionist opposition alliance.
PI
People of Israel
Political party
Polling between four and five seats, near or below the 3.25 percent threshold

Right-wing party led by Ofer Winter, competing for voters leaving Blue and White.
Yisrael Beytenu
Yisrael Beytenu
Israeli political party
Part of the opposition bloc, which won 48 seats in the October 27 election

Party led by Avigdor Liberman, aligned with Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc.

Timeline

10 events Latest: October 30th, 2026 · 1 week ago
Tap a bar to jump to that date

  1. Final results: no bloc reaches 61 seats

    Latest Election

    The count confirmed Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats, the opposition bloc at 48 and Arab-led parties at 19, a historic high. Netanyahu's bloc lost its parliamentary majority.

  2. Party leaders open coalition talks

    Politics

    Netanyahu met Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. On the other side, Yair Golan met Ra'am's Mansour Abbas, Eisenkot and Yair Lapid, and Naftali Bennett met Eisenkot and Golan.

  3. Israel votes, with turnout at 77.7 percent

    Election

    Polls closed at 10 p.m. with final turnout of 77.7 percent. Blue and White was absent from the ballot, and any of its slips found in the count were ruled invalid.

  4. Gantz urges supporters to vote despite his withdrawal

    Statement

    A week after pulling his list, Gantz told supporters to turn out on October 27 and said he would keep working for national unity, writing that "we have one country, we have no other."

  5. Final-week polls show the blocs tied

    Polling

    Al Jazeera reported the Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs locked in a virtual tie before the October 27 vote, with neither projected to reach 61 seats.

  6. Blue and White formally leaves the race

    Politics

    Every candidate on Gantz's list signed resignation papers and the Central Elections Committee confirmed the party will not run. Polling officials were told not to distribute its "Ken" slips, which are marked with an X on ballot posters; any found in the count are invalid.

  7. Netanyahu seeks rabbi's help to push Winter out of the race

    Politics

    An Israeli newspaper reported that Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich asked a prominent rabbi to persuade Amcha Yisrael leader Ofer Winter to withdraw, citing polls that put his party below the 3.25 percent threshold.

  8. Gantz drops out of election race

    Statement

    Benny Gantz announces he will not run in the October 27 election after polls showed his Blue and White party below the 3.25 percent threshold.

  9. Blue and White's No. 2 defends the withdrawal

    Statement

    Pnina Tamano-Shata told ynet the party pulled out because votes for a list below the threshold would be wasted, calling it "the right one at this time."

  10. Eisenkot and Liberman urge threshold-only voting

    Politics

    The Yashar and Yisrael Beytenu leaders met and issued a joint call to back only the four parties in their bloc likely to clear the threshold, after Liberman had accused Eisenkot of planning to join a Netanyahu government.

Scenarios

1

Israel faces repeat election after coalition deadlock

Likely Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera

Neither bloc wins a clear 61-seat majority. Both sides rule out cooperation with Arab-led lists. Coalition talks fail, triggering new elections.

2

Netanyahu forms coalition with defectors

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Al Jazeera, ynet

Likud and its far-right allies fall short of 61 seats but recruit defectors from other parties to form a government.

3

Eisenkot forms minority government

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Foreign Policy

Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot assembles a minority coalition or temporary alliance to replace Netanyahu, possibly triggering new elections shortly after.

4

Gantz's voters push Ofer Winter over the threshold

Deadline passed (Oct 27, 2026)

Discussed by: An internal poll for one coalition party, reported by The Jerusalem Post

Blue and White was polling at 1.2 percent, about 40,000 votes. In the internal survey, 24.2 percent of its voters said they would move to Winter's People of Israel party, roughly 10,000 votes, while 31.1 percent were undecided. Winter's list has polled between four and five seats, near or below the 3.25 percent threshold.

5

Opposition governs with Arab-led parties' support

Possible Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: The Guardian

Eisenkot's 48-seat bloc wins backing from Arab-led parties, which hold 19 seats, to replace Netanyahu, either in a minority government or a limited arrangement. The Guardian reported the question of whether the opposition can govern with Palestinian parties is now central to the talks.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

April 2019

Israeli election threshold miss (2019)

In the April 2019 election, a party missed entering the Knesset by 1,450 votes, a margin smaller than a single polling station.

Then

The missed threshold changed the Knesset's composition and the coalition math.

Now

Showed how small margins determine which parties enter parliament.

Why this matters now

Gantz's exit, even if his remaining voters are few, could shift the balance in a tight race.

November 2022

2022 election and the 4,000-vote margin

In November 2022, a party was left out of the Knesset due to 4,000 missing votes.

Then

The resulting Knesset and government shaped the following four years.

Now

Demonstrated the electoral threshold's power to change outcomes.

Why this matters now

Shows how a small number of votes can determine the shape of Israel's government.

Sources

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Al Jazeera Haaretz Ynetnews Walla WION Foreign Policy The Times of Israel Anadolu Agency All Israel News i24NEWS JFeed Kikar HaShabbat The Jerusalem Post Rappler AP News The Guardian The State of Israel Haaretz Ynetnews Ynetnews The Times of Israel The Jerusalem Post Al Jazeera The Times of Israel Al Jazeera The Jerusalem Post The Jerusalem Post i24NEWS