19 seats: The number that broke the Israeli election balance
Palestinian citizens of Israel cast ballots at a rate of 80 percent, delivering their two parties a historic win that prevented a governing majority.
By Bianca Herrera ·
The October 27 elections in Israel produced a result that upended the expected political order.
Two parties composed entirely of Palestinian citizens of Israel secured 19 seats in the Knesset. This outcome followed a turnout rate of roughly 80 percent among that demographic. The high participation rate proved decisive in the final tally.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats, while the Jewish-led opposition captured 48. Neither group achieved the 61 seats required for a majority. The 19 seats held by the Palestinian parties thus held the balance of power.
The immediate reaction from Netanyahu’s camp was to question the validity of the results. Officials and public figures alleged the election was stolen. They are now calling for restrictions on the Arab vote. Former Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin declared the mobilization the October 7 of Israeli politics. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister's son, called Palestinian citizens the greatest danger to the state aside from the Iranian nuclear threat.
This political shift follows a long history of electoral tension. In 2001, Arab turnout fell to 19 percent after police killed 13 citizens during the second Intifada. In 2021, far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich rejected a coalition with the Ra’am party, arguing it would encourage higher Palestinian turnout. Although Ra’am later joined the Bennett Lapid government, that administration collapsed after two members resigned over the alliance.
The path to the current election was marked by friction. The Central Elections Committee initially voted to disqualify both Palestinian lists and two individual candidates. The Supreme Court reversed those bans. A survey by the Arabic Post found that 40 percent of social media posts by Netanyahu’s candidates concerned Arabs or Palestinians, with 94 percent of those posts being hostile. Police also raided homes of Ra’am activists in the Negev on bribery suspicions, leading to the arrest and later release of three men.
A July survey by the Israel Democracy Institute found that only 46 percent of right-wing Jewish respondents supported the voting rights of Palestinian citizens. The two Palestinian parties now face conditions for joining a coalition, including recognizing Israel as an exclusively Jewish state and labeling Hamas a terrorist organization.
