Final Knesset Count: None of the Five Candidates With Bukharian Roots and Ties Wins a Seat

None of the five candidates with Bukharian roots or ties who ran on party lists in Israel’s Oct. 27 election will enter the 26th Knesset, according to the final results published by the Central Elections Committee early Friday, Oct. 30, Israel time. The committee released the full seat distribution after it finished counting the double-envelope ballots, most of them cast by soldiers, and completed an initial review of the results from regular polling stations, Israel National News and Ynet reported.

The committee said the figures remain subject to minor corrections over the coming days. “Subject to minor corrections, as in every election, these are the results that will be submitted to the president of the State of Israel on Wednesday, November 4,” the committee said, according to Ynet. The Times of Israel reported that the new Knesset is to be sworn in on Nov. 10.

The final seat count

According to the committee’s figures as reported by Israel National News and Ynet, Likud won 27 seats; Yashar!, led by Gadi Eisenkot, 21; Together (Beyachad), led by Naftali Bennett, 12; the Joint List 11; the Democrats 8; Ra’am 8; Yisrael Beytenu 7; Otzma Yehudit 7; United Torah Judaism 7; Shas 6; and the Religious Zionist Party 6. All other lists failed to cross the electoral threshold, Israel National News reported.

The committee put turnout at 77.9%. It said 5,716,665 votes were counted, of which 5,690,778 were valid and 25,887 invalid. The threshold, set at 3.25% of valid votes, came to 184,947 votes. By bloc, the parties of the outgoing coalition hold 53 seats, the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot 48, and the Arab parties 19, the reports said. A majority requires 61.

Where the five candidates finished

Bukharian Jewish Post profiled the five candidates on Oct. 26, drawing on interviews they gave to the Israeli Bukharian community magazine Menora, and set their list positions against the partial count on Oct. 28. The final figures confirm the picture from the partial count:

• Rabbi Yosef Elnatanov, No. 11, Shas. Shas finished with 6 seats, one fewer than in the partial results of Oct. 28 and five short of Elnatanov’s place on the list. Shas held 11 seats in the outgoing Knesset. Ynet and Kikar HaShabbat described Elnatanov in September as the representative of the Bukharian community on the Shas list. He is principal of the Beit Yosef Talmud Torah in Holon.
• Yaniv Badalov, No. 15, Otzma Yehudit. Otzma Yehudit, headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, won 7 seats. Badalov is the deputy mayor of Elad.
• Adi Mordechayev, No. 23, Yisrael Beytenu. Avigdor Liberman’s party won 7 seats. Mordechayev is deputy mayor of Ramla.
• Zhanna Cohen, No. 45, Together. The list headed by Bennett, with Yair Lapid second, won 12 seats. Cohen, a former Or Yehuda city council member, heads the World Union of Bukhara Immigrants.
• Yiska Haimov, No. 5, Noam. Noam, the party led by Avi Maoz, was not among the lists that won seats. A list that does not pass the threshold receives no seats. Haimov told Menora that her husband’s family is half Bukharian and that she has close ties to the community in Holon.

The integrity investigation

The committee’s statement also addressed a Shin Bet investigation into suspected election bribery and foreign interference, opened at the direction of committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg. Acting committee director general Dean Livne said the investigation “will not affect the final results submitted to the president” and does not concern “any particular community,” according to Ynet. The Shin Bet said in its own statement that the inquiry “does not cast suspicion on or accuse an entire community,” Ynet reported. Reports have linked the intelligence to suspected transfers of money from Qatar, which Doha has denied; Turkey has also rejected allegations of involvement, Ynet reported.

What comes next

After the results are formally submitted on Nov. 4, President Isaac Herzog will hold consultations with the parties on whom to task with forming a government. Bukharian Jewish Post’s live blog is following the coalition talks.

As of this report, Bukharian Jewish Post had not found an official, published breakdown of the final results for cities with large Bukharian communities, such as Or Yehuda, Holon and Ramla. The committee publishes locality results on its official results site.

Sources: Israel National News, “Final election results released,” Oct. 30, 2026; Ynet, “Israel election results unaffected by foreign interference probe, committee says,” Oct. 30, 2026; i24NEWS, final results (in Hebrew), Oct. 29–30, 2026; The Times of Israel live blog, final results and Nov. 10 swearing-in; Bukharian Jewish Post, partial results report, Oct. 28, 2026; Bukharian Jewish Post, candidate profiles, Oct. 26, 2026.