Golan says opposition holds 65-seat majority
Yair Golan urges coalition partners to include Arab parties to reach the 61-seat threshold needed to govern.
By David Marshall ·
Voters in Israel face a new political configuration following the 2026 Knesset elections. The opposition bloc now holds 65 seats when Arab parties are included. This total exceeds the 61 seats required to form a government.
Yair Golan, chairman of the Democrats party, announced the result on Wednesday morning. He stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc lost the election. "Netanyahu lost. I know how to count to 120. 65 is more than 55. That's how Israeli democracy works. Period," Golan said. He called for the inclusion of Arab parties in the new administration.
The Central Elections Committee data projects specific seat counts for the major contenders. The opposition bloc, which includes Yashar, B’Yachad, Yisrael Beytenu, and the Democrats, is expected to secure 47 seats. Golan's party alone is projected to win nine seats. Arab parties Ra'am and the Joint List are projected to win six and 12 seats, respectively.
Golan addressed the composition of the ruling coalition directly. He noted that if Netanyahu attempts to form a Zionist bloc, he must account for the 16 Knesset members from non-Zionist Haredi parties. "We have a majority. We have responsibility. And we have an opportunity to form a government of change in partnership with Israel's Arab citizens," Golan wrote.
MK Gilad Kariv of The Democrats described the morning after the election as a different political reality. He observed that the right-wing coalition lost seats and likely cannot form a government in its previous configuration. Kariv noted that a substantial majority of voters, by a margin of hundreds of thousands of votes, voted against Netanyahu.
Kariv emphasized the expectation for the opposition to act. He stated that a large segment of the Israeli public expects the new government to make decisions about the country's future. He argued that Netanyahu and his partners should not continue leading the country along the path taken over the past four years.
The opposition bloc now has the numerical advantage to form a government. The inclusion of the projected 18 seats from Ra'am and the Joint List brings the total to 65. This allows the coalition to cross the threshold for a governing majority.
