Despite the rapid pace of counting the nationwide vote from Election Day, officials at the Central Elections Committee say unintentional counting errors mean some results would not be factored into the final tally for a while, potentially complicating even further the inconclusive outcome from Tuesday's march to the polls.
Some 500,000 ballots have yet to have been counted as of Wednesday night. The number is relatively high because of the special balloting procedures in some polling stations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The committee said it would stop publishing new figures until it resolves an issue surrounding 300 ballot boxes comprising many votes. These boxes arrived too late to be properly recorded and tabulated on Tuesday. On top of that, some 3% of the vote will only be counted later because it has been mailed-in via Israeli diplomats overseas or processed through special double envelopes in military bases or hospitals and other special polling stations.
There are also some 180 boxes with paper ballots whose recorded tally was not properly processed because the relevant documents had been accidentally misplaced. While this is unlikely to result in any recounts or discrepancies, it could lead to slight delays or modifications in the final tally.
Following a dramatic Tuesday night and after some 87% of the votes had been counted as of Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party appeared close to victory – although his fate still depends on Yamina leader Naftali Bennett.
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The right-wing bloc of Netanyahu supporters currently has 52 projected seats; the Center-Left bloc is expected to garner 56 seats, but Yamina's seven seats, and now Ra'am's five seats, could go to either bloc to give it the majority it needs.
Shortly after the exit polls were released, Bennett said, "I will only do what is good for the State of Israel." He did not elaborate further.
Voter turnout on Tuesday was particularly low – only 66.9% – marking the lowest turnout in the past four elections.
The results after 89% of the votes have been counted on Wednesday morning were as follows:
Counting the votes is expected to be far more challenging this election, due to a large number of double envelopes used by absentee ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.
These votes include some 600,000 IDF soldiers, police officers, inmates and guards, diplomatic representatives abroad, and those in isolation due to the virus. The Central Elections Committee has employed some 6,500 vote counters, who have until Friday evening, before the commencement of the Shabbat, to complete their task.
The results put both blocs within reach of cobbling together a coalition – as long as Yamina joins one of them. However, as Bennett has vowed not to join a government led by Netanyahu or by Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid, it is unclear where the national-religious party is headed.
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