EXPLAINER: Israel Elections Briefing September 2026

With one month to go until Israel’s 27 October general election, there’s good news and bad news for Benjamin Netanyahu.

The long-serving Israeli leader continues to trail former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot when voters are asked to pick their preference for prime minister. And the opposition bloc – headed by Eisenkot’s centrist Yashar party – continues to lead Netanyahu’s coalition of right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties. There also appears to be a potentially significant enthusiasm gap between the two blocs: while three-quarters of supporters of the Netanyahu bloc say they will vote, 82 percent of supports of the opposition bloc intend to go to the polls.

However, the gap between the opposition and the Netanyahu bloc is shrinking and Eisenkot and his allies – who once appeared within touching distance of the 61 seats needed to win a majority in the Knesset – have slipped further.