Israel Certifies October 27 Election Results Amid Fraud Probes

The Central Election Committee certified the results of the October 27 election on Wednesday, formally ending the administrative phase of the vote and initiating the process to form a new government.

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, the committee chair, presented the certified documents to President Isaac Herzog at the President’s Residence. The plenum approved the results with 15 votes in favor, two against, and 14 abstentions. Representatives from the outgoing coalition largely abstained, while two members of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party voted against certification. The opposition bloc’s 15 representatives voted to approve the outcome.

Sohlberg stated that casting doubt on the validity of the vote posed a real danger to Israel’s democracy. He noted that the committee’s review of protocols from 9,069 polling stations found no irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election. He argued that even if suspicions of fraud are proven, the scale would not be sufficient to alter the final result. The committee rejected attempts by the outgoing coalition to delay certification pending the outcome of two active investigations.

Those investigations focus on alleged foreign funding and local vote-buying schemes. The Shin Bet reported intelligence suggesting that money from countries with concealed or hostile interests reached the Joint List of Arab parties through disguised donations. The agency described the operation as involving thousands of people but stated that further work was needed to establish the exact scale. A separate police probe examines alleged vote-buying in the Negev region. Ra’am, one of the Arab parties in the Joint List, has denied any wrongdoing.

President Herzog accepted the results and expressed full confidence in the Shin Bet, the police, and the Attorney General to investigate the suspicions. He criticized what he described as coarse and racist rhetoric targeting Arab Israelis during the dispute. Herzog called on Knesset factions to compromise on their campaign promises to avoid a return to the polls. He began consultations with party leaders on Wednesday to determine who will receive the mandate to form a government. The chosen leader will have 42 days to assemble a coalition.

Political leaders from the change bloc, which opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have ruled out both a minority government relying on external support from Arab parties and a unity government with the Likud. They have also demanded strict legislation to increase ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the IDF. These positions have created a deadlock, as the Haredi parties are also seen as difficult coalition partners under the new enlistment rules.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, head of Otzma Yehudit, reacted to the Shin Bet findings by demanding that the security chief arrest all Arab party leaders. He called for an immediate freeze on certification and government formation, declaring that the election was stolen. The Shin Bet did not identify the specific countries or individuals involved in the alleged foreign influence operation, and no public evidence has yet shown that the activity altered the vote count.