The general election for the 26th Knesset on Tuesday, 27 October 2026 represents the first national ballot since the 7 October 2023 attacks and the subsequent multi-front war in Gaza and Lebanon. According to official Central Elections Committee rolls, 7,331,981 eligible voters are registered across the country, with 38 party lists competing.
Major Contending Lists & Realignments
| Contending Party / Alliance | Leader(s) | Bloc Alignment | Core Platform & Strategic Position | Surplus-Vote Partner (Heskem Odafim) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Likud | Benjamin Netanyahu | Governing Right Bloc | Rejects a Palestinian state and opposes an independent state commission of inquiry into 7 October; incorporates Gideon Sa’ar on its list (polling ~20–23 seats). | RZP–Zehut |
| Yashar (“Straight”) | Gadi Eisenkot | Opposition Bloc | Newly formed centrist security-oriented list led by the former IDF Chief of Staff; leads pre-election polling averages (~22 seats) as Netanyahu’s primary challenger. | The Democrats |
| Beyachad (“Together”) | Naftali Bennett & Yair Lapid | Opposition Bloc | Electoral alliance uniting former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) to bridge liberal-centrist and anti-Netanyahu soft-right voters. | Yisrael Beiteinu |
| Shas & United Torah Judaism (UTJ) | Aryeh Deri (Shas) / Yitzhak Goldknopf (UTJ) | Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Bloc | Demand constitutional protection for Yeshiva students from military conscription and restoration of state religious subsidies. | Shas ↔ UTJ |
| Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) | Itamar Ben-Gvir | Governing Far-Right | Running independently after declining a joint ticket with Smotrich; campaigns on hardline internal security, settlement expansion, and judicial restructuring. | None |
| Religious Zionism – Zehut | Bezalel Smotrich & Moshe Feiglin | Governing Far-Right | Technical merger engineered to prevent Religious Zionism from slipping below the 3.25% threshold (polling ~6 seats). | Likud |
| The Democrats | Yair Golan | Opposition Centre-Left | Historic merger of the Israeli Labour Party and Meretz (ratified May 2026); champions liberal democracy, civil rights, and a diplomatic two-state horizon. | Yashar |
| Yisrael Beiteinu | Avigdor Lieberman | Opposition Secular Right | Demands mandatory universal national/military service for all Haredi and Arab citizens at age 18 and strict separation of religion and state. | Beyachad (Together) |
| The Joint List & Ra’am | Yousef Jabareen (Joint List) / Mansour Abbas (Ra’am) | Arab Parliamentary Lists | Hadash, Ta’al, and Balad reunited as the Joint List, whilst Ra’am runs independently to retain flexibility as a potential coalition partner. | Joint List ↔ Ra’am |
| Threshold Battleground Lists | Benny Gantz (Blue & White), Ofer Winter (Amcha Yisrael), Yoaz Hendel (Reservists) | Various | Smaller factions hovering near the 3.25% mark (approx. 165,000–175,000 votes depending on turnout); Benny Gantz announced his retirement from politics on 19 October 2026 following a collapse in support for Blue and White. | Various |
