Israel Begins Counting Absentee Ballots With No Clear Governing Majority

Israel's election count has entered a new stage, with officials beginning to tally absentee ballots overnight Thursday as partial results continued to leave both main political blocs short of a governing majority.

The Central Elections Committee began counting the special ballots, known as double envelopes, at 1 a.m. Israel time, according to its statement reported by Haaretz. These include votes cast by soldiers, hospitalized patients, diplomats and other eligible voters away from their assigned polling stations.

The committee's results page, marked 2 a.m. Thursday in Israel, listed 5,157,014 ballots counted, including 5,134,244 valid votes. Those totals are a snapshot of the ongoing count, not a final tally.

The latest reported seat projections continued to put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc at 53 seats, the Jewish-led opposition parties at 48 and the Arab-led parties at 19. A majority in the 120-seat Knesset requires 61 seats. The Arab parties are separate lists, and those totals do not establish an agreed governing coalition.

Double-envelope ballots undergo additional checks before counting. Officials verify voters' eligibility and cross-check their details to prevent duplicate voting before separating the inner ballot envelopes for counting, according to the committee's explanation of the process.

The remaining ballots can still change the distribution of seats. The committee says results remain subject to change until the final results are officially published, with publication required by November 4. No final winner or governing coalition has been established by this partial count.