How the absentee count works

While most attention has been on the projected seat counts, the Central Elections Committee is still working through the ballots that will decide the final Israel election results. The count of absentee ballots began at 1am local time, and roughly 500,000 such ballots from military personnel and diplomats are to be tallied until Thursday evening.

The ballots do not stay where they are cast. They are transported directly to the Knesset, where they undergo a series of checks before they are counted.

• •Ballots come from soldiers serving at IDF bases
• •Diplomats abroad also cast them, along with prisoners and prison guards
• •Hospital patients make up a further group of absentee voters
• •The ballot boxes are brought to the Knesset for verification before the tally

Timeline to final results and coalition talks

Final results are expected on Thursday. The same day, Yair Golan, leader of the centre-left Democrats, has said he will meet leaders for coalition talks, including Gadi Eisenkot, chair of the Yashar party, and Yair Lapid of B'Yachad.

President Isaac Herzog, who is tasked with determining which candidate to tap to form a government, urged the parties to keep an open mind and said they should avoid sending the country back to the polls.

That was Herzog's warning as the absentee count got under way.

Likud complaint over Arab parties

The Central Elections Committee said it received a Likud party complaint alleging that Arab parties had compromised election integrity, and that it will examine the complaint in its routine post-election review.

Likud accused the Arab-led parties, without evidence, of "stealing" the election and demanded investigations by police and the Shin Bet. The complaint lands while the final tally is still open, with the committee's review the channel it will now go through.

Markets and next steps

Financial markets moved sharply against the uncertainty while the count proceeded. The shekel weakened more than 2% on Wednesday, putting it on course for its worst day since the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.

• •Tel Aviv's key benchmark stock index fell 2.5%
• •That was its worst performance in more than four months

The next step depends on whether a governing bloc can be assembled once the final numbers are in. If neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Gadi Eisenkot manages to form a government, Israel could face another election, with Netanyahu remaining at the helm of a caretaker government in the meantime.

For now, the timetable is set: the absentee tally runs until Thursday evening, final results are due that day, and the first coalition meetings follow immediately after.