Israel blocs fall short as special ballot count continues

Preliminary results from Israel’s election leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition short of the 61 seats needed to form a government, with the final balance pending a count of special ballots. The reported tally gives Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot 48. Arab parties have 19 seats. The results remain preliminary, and no bloc has secured a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The Central Elections Committee is counting about 600,000 double-envelope ballots. One estimate puts the number at 600,000 to 650,000. The ballots are cast by people unable to vote at their registered polling stations, including military personnel, diplomats abroad, hospital patients and people with disabilities. Officials verify voter eligibility before separating the identifying outer envelope from the anonymous ballot envelope. The remaining ballots could change seat allocations, particularly for smaller parties near the electoral threshold, and may affect coalition calculations. Each Knesset seat represents roughly 40,000 votes, according to reports on the count. The final distribution, and whether it changes the path to a majority, is not...