Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot on Tuesday night had issued a statement at press time declaring victory, saying the preliminary voting results should give him the first right to form a government to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He had not yet spoken in public, with coordination taking place behind the scenes with the rest of the leaders of parties in his bloc.
Initial voting results gave his political bloc a 53-50 or 52-50 lead over the Netanyahu bloc according to Channels 11, 12, and 13, even as Netanyahu edged Eisenkot in head-to-head competition by 24-22, 25-23, or 25-21.
Eisenkot headquarters erupted into cheers when they heard the initial results of the balance of the blocs, even as there were a few seconds of nervousness when they saw that Netanyahu had the largest party.
In Israel's political system, the largest bloc usually gets the first right to try to form a government, and also can likely take control over the Knesset pending formation of a government.
However, slow-walking Eisenkot making a public appearance showed the sensitivity of the problems ahead of him, including potentially convincing his coalition partners, most notably Avigdor Liberman, to accept a government or minority support from Israeli-Arab parties, which Liberman had refused during campaign season.
Some commentators said Liberman might reconsider due to the high voter turnout, but the Yisrael Beytenu party leader is notoriously determined to stick to certain principles.
Eisenkot faces difficulty to form government as Arab parties soar
Earlier Tuesday, Eisenkot was hoping to have an even larger victory, but even then, due to the size of the Israeli-Arab parties, which are not specifically affiliated with a bloc, Eisenkot was not expected to be able to easily form the next government even if he won more votes than the Netanyahu ring-wing bloc.
Eisenkot's campaign on Tuesday started early in the morning at Ofakim and Nir Oz of the Gaza Strip corridor, calling attention to the failures of the past government in preventing Hamas's October 7 invasion.
Eisenkot then started traveling further north to Ashdod, with other stops along the way until he was due to vote in Herzliya at 1:45 p.m. and eventually make it to his election night headquarters at the National Sports Complex in Tel Aviv.
Already by late morning, Yashar had filed complaints with the Israeli Election Commission complaining of alleged systematic vandalism and destruction of ballots carrying the parties' names at various voting sites.
Eisenkot's largest support comes from voters who blame Netanyahu for October 7 or who blame him and his bloc for failing to draft the haredi sector into the IDF even after over 1,000 Israeli soldiers died in recent years.
Yashar officials react to exit polls
Gadi Eisenkot said preliminary exit poll results showed “complete distrust in Netanyahu and the government of October 7,” describing the projected results as a potential victory for Israel’s “statist-Zionist majority.”
“If these are the final results, this is a victory for the statesmanlike-Zionist majority in Israel,” the former IDF chief of staff wrote in a post on X/Twitter following the release of television exit polls.
Eisenkot said he would “act immediately to realize the decision of the people, to replace the Netanyahu government and to establish a Zionist mobilization government, at the earliest possible time.”