Israel’s 2026 Elections Explained: Key Parties, Candidates, and What’s at Stake

Israel is heading into consequential elections on Oct. 27, 2026. Voters will decide the composition of the next Knesset after four turbulent years marked by the October 7 massacre and subsequent regional wars, growing international pressure over the immense and continued death and destruction in Gaza, corruption charges and international arrest warrants on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and escalating settler violence in the West Bank. Netanyahu and his Likud party face a crowded field of opposition parties, all of which vary significantly on major issues such as extension of the military draft to Haredi citizens, the establishment of an independent investigative commission into the October 7 attacks, judicial reform, and West Bank annexation. With 38 parties competing for 120 seats, the election hinges not only on the popular vote and Knesset seat makeup but also on whether the major parties can assemble a unified governing coalition. This visual guide breaks down the major candidates, explains Israel’s unicameral parliamentary system, and outlines projected seat distributions. An accompanying party alignment guide and issue-by-issue scorecard offer insight into where parties stand on the most important issues in Israel and to U.S. policy, including Palestinian statehood, West Bank settlements and annexation, judicial reform, and continued occupation of Gaza.

Jump to: Context · Candidates · How the vote works · Likely results · Party stances · All parties

Turbulent times

The term of the government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the farthest right in Israel’s history, is ending. The past four years, one of the country’s most turbulent periods in decades, have included:

• • The Oct. 7 massacre and subsequent conflicts.

• • Mounting international pressure against Israel for alleged war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza.

• • Extension of the military draft to Haredi citizens.

• • Attempts at major judicial reforms to limit the power of the Supreme Court and increase the power of the ruling government.

• • Corruption charges against Netanyahu.

• • Escalating tensions in Gaza and the West Bank.

• • Calls for an official and independent investigative commission appointed by the Israeli High Court of Justice to impartially examine alleged government failures related to the Oct. 7 massacre.

At stake

• • The Netanyahu government is painting the election as an opportunity to advance its conservative agenda.

• • The opposition frames it as a chance to exact accountability for tumultuous events under Netanyahu.

• • The 38 parties on the ballot are vying for 120 seats in the unicameral parliament.

Major candidates

Benjamin Netanyahu

• Party: Likud
• Current prime minister
• Prime minister for 19 of the past 30 years
• Increasingly conservative policies

Gadi Eisenkot

• Party: Yashar!
• Former IDF chief of staff under Netanyahu
• Campaigning on the status quo for Palestinian affairs and reform for Oct. 7 accountability

Naftali Bennett

• Party: Together
• Former prime minister and Netanyahu political aide
• Has united with Yair Lapid, former prime minister and head of centrist party Yesh Atid, to form an anti-Netanyahu bloc

Yair Golan

• Party: The Democrats
• Major in the IDF Reserve
• Praised for heroic actions during the Oct. 7 massacre
• The only prominent liberal in the race

How the elections work

Israeli elections are unusual, prioritizing the party over the candidate and stratifying power within a single legislative body.

1. Voting

• • Parties: Each party submits a list of candidates, ranked by preference.

• • Voters: Each voter casts a ballot for one party, not for individual candidates.

2. Seat allocation

Each party gets a number of seats based on its share of the total vote. The total vote is divided by 120, the number of seats in the Knesset, and each resulting share equals roughly one seat. A party that gets 10% of the vote gets 12 seats, a party that gets 15% gets 18 seats, and so on.

3. Seating candidates

Each party’s seats go to candidates from its list in order: the first seat to the first name on the list, the second to the second, and so on until all of the party’s seats are filled.

Likely results

Party stances on major issues

Alignments