What is the story about?
The Israel Police has rejected Likud's claims that the election had been "stolen" on Thursday morning, stating that there was no investigative or intelligence
evidence to support the allegations. "Election day passed with a small number of unusual incidents concerning electoral integrity, even compared with previous elections. It should be emphasized that there is no investigative or intelligence evidence to support the claims," the police said in a Thursday statement, according to The Jerusalem Post.
What has Netanyahu's party claimed?
On Wednesday, Likud accused Arab parties of attempting to steal Israel’s Knesset election through alleged electoral fraud. The party cited several alleged irregularities, including thousands of envelopes containing cash alongside Ra’am ballot slips, threats and violence against polling station committee members, multiple voters entering booths together, voting under duplicate identities, discrepancies between the number of ballots and registered voters, and the use of prohibited voter mobilisation software.
Netanyahu also accused Arab parties of "widespread electoral fraud, bribery, intimidation and ballot manipulation" and demanded an immediate investigation by law enforcement authorities in a statement following Tuesday's vote.
"The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters," Netanyahu said in a post on X.
The election count has given Netanyahu's party 53 seats, against 48 for the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, while Arab-led parties were projected to win 19 seats, leaving the formation of the next government uncertain.
At least 61 seats are required for a majority in the 120-member Knesset, Israel's parliament.
