Israel is scheduled to hold a general election on October 27, 2026, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party will face a coalition of opposition parties. The election follows a period defined by the war in Gaza, widespread domestic protests over judicial reforms, and ongoing legal challenges faced by the prime minister.
Recent opinion polls indicate a potential decrease in support for Netanyahu’s Likud party, which secured 32 seats in the 2022 election. Projections from most polls suggest the party could win between 20 and 22 seats, with some voter support shifting to other right-wing parties or the opposition bloc. The alliance opposing Netanyahu has not formally nominated a leader, though former army chief Gadi Eisenkot is widely reported as a likely candidate for prime minister.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, returned to power for his sixth term in late 2022, leading a coalition government that includes right-wing and religious parties. His government includes figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has a past conviction for incitement to racism and support for a group designated by Israel as a terrorist organization, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a proponent of settlement expansion.
“When they see Netanyahu at the United Nations, that’s what they want,” Mitchell Barak, a former aide to Netanyahu in the 1990s, told Al Jazeera, referencing his supporters’ views on his leadership style.
In January 2023, Netanyahu’s government introduced proposals for a judicial overhaul, which prompted large-scale, sustained protests across the country. The proposed legislation sought to alter the balance of power between the government and the judiciary.
Another significant piece of legislation under Netanyahu’s leadership was the 2018 Nation-State Law, which declared that the right to national self-determination in Israel is “unique to the Jewish people.” The law also designated the development of Jewish settlements as a national value.
The upcoming election is also set against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, which began after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023. In the occupied West Bank, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported an increase in settler attacks, with 1,291 incidents recorded in 2023 and 1,835 in 2025. OCHA also reported that 1,071 Palestinians, including 233 children, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since October 7, 2023.
Political commentators have offered perspectives on Netanyahu’s political approach. Political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg described Netanyahu to Al Jazeera as being “very good at building coalitions that reflect public opinion, as well as steering that opinion in his own direction.”
Aida Touma-Sliman, an outgoing parliamentarian with the left-wing Hadash party, commented on the composition of the current government, telling the news outlet, “He knows exactly what he’s doing when he includes people like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir in his government, and he knows the outcome of those appointments.”
Netanyahu also faces ongoing corruption charges, which he denies, in a legal process that began in 2019.
