How Knesset seats are counted

Israel elects all 120 members of the Knesset in a single nationwide vote. People vote for a party list rather than a candidate, and seats are shared out in proportion to the vote. Here is how votes become seats, and seats become a government.

Last updated October 28, 2026

One country, one list

The whole country votes as a single constituency. Before the election, each party files a ranked list of candidates, and voters can't reorder it. If a party wins 10 seats, the top 10 names on its list enter the Knesset. That's why list placement matters so much inside each party, and why mergers and joint lists are such a big part of every campaign.

The 3.25% threshold

A party needs at least 3.25% of the valid votes to win any seats at all. The threshold has been at that level since the 2015 election. It equals about 3.9 seats' worth of votes, so in practice a party that gets in wins at least 4.

Votes for parties below the threshold don't count toward any seat. In 2022, nearly 420,000 votes, about 8.8% of the total, went to parties that missed it. That's roughly 10 seats' worth of votes with no representation.

What a seat costs

There's no fixed price for a seat. Roughly, it's the number of valid votes cast for parties that passed the threshold, divided by 120. That means two things move the price:

• Turnout. More voters means more votes per seat, and a higher number of votes needed to cross the threshold.
• Wasted votes. The more votes go to parties that miss the threshold, the cheaper each seat becomes for everyone who got in.

In 2022, a seat cost about 36,000 votes. In 2026, turnout reached 77.7%, the highest since 1999, and the price went up.

The leftover seats

Dividing the votes by the price of a seat leaves every party with a fraction left over. Israel hands out those remaining seats using the Bader-Ofer method, a version of the D'Hondt divisor system that slightly favors larger parties.

Before the election, pairs of parties can also sign surplus-vote agreements. Their leftover votes are pooled, and if together they're worth another seat, it goes to the partner with the larger surplus. One extra seat can decide a coalition, which is why these deals get negotiated so hard.

Double envelopes

Soldiers, diplomats, hospital patients and staff, prisoners and some other voters can't vote at their home polling station. They vote with a double envelope. The ballot goes in an inner envelope, which goes inside an outer envelope carrying the voter's details. Officials check the voter didn't also vote at home before the inner envelope is opened, which keeps the vote anonymous.

These ballots are counted last, after every regular ballot, and they have historically shifted the final result by a seat or two. In 2026 there were an estimated 430,000 to 600,000 of them, more than ever before, mainly because so many reservists were on active duty. Parties sitting just under the threshold watch this count closely, because a strong showing among soldiers can push them over the line.

From seats to a government

Seats are only the first round. Here's what happens after the official results are published:

• The President consults the representatives of every party in the Knesset. Within 7 days, the President asks the member with the best chance of forming a government to try.
• That member gets 28 days, and the President can extend it by up to 14 more.
• If they fail, the President can give a second member 28 days.
• If that fails too, at least 61 members can ask the President in writing, within 21 days, to give the job to someone they choose. That person then gets 14 days.
• If none of this works, the Knesset dissolves and Israel goes to another election.

A new government takes office when it wins a confidence vote in the Knesset. Coalitions aim for at least 61 seats so they can pass laws and budgets, and because replacing a sitting government takes 61 members backing an alternative. That's the line Knesset Knock-Out! asks you to cross.