Israel election: Final results announced for election 2022

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid will not attend next week's UN climate conference in Egypt, his office said, a cancellation that followed exit polls predicting that his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, had won a national election.

President Isaac Herzog will represent Israel at the Nov. 6-18 conference, Lapid's office said.

The left-wing Meretz party likely did not pass the electoral threshold In Tuesday's election and will remain outside of Israel's 25th Knesset, according to data published by the Central Election Committee (CEC) after 84.7% of the votes were counted on Wednesday.

Meretz leader Zehava Galon and the party's MKs and candidates have not spoken publicly since the end of the election at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

As of 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Meretz stood at 3.2% of the general vote, below the requisite 3.25% of the general election. This is after nearly all of the standard votes were counted, and what remains is approximately 570,000 "double envelope votes," meaning votes that were cast by voters in booths that were not the ones assigned to them – including IDF soldiers, election officials and policemen on duty during election day, diplomats serving abroad, handicapped people who voted in special accessible voting booths, COVID-19 patients who votes at specialized booths, and more.

The number of double envelopes is far higher than in previous elections and therefore it is still unclear what the final results will be. Traditionally, however, these votes, known colloquially as "the soldier's votes," strengthen the Right, and therefore the chance of Meretz pushing across the threshold.

Even if Meretz passes, however, the bloc led by opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu will still be able to form a 61-seat coalition and form a government.

Meretz's failure to pass the threshold will likely be attributed to Transportation Minister and Labor leader Merav MIchaeli, who refused to merge with its sister party, and Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who took votes away from Meretz in the homestretch and did not assess correctly that Meretz was in danger of falling. 

The counting of normal ballots for the Tuesday general election was finished just after noon, KAN reported at 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday, and the counting of double envelopes had begun.

Double envelopes are those belonging to those voting from beyond their normal polling station, such as soldiers, diplomats, prisoners, and people who are unable to leave their homes such as people with disabilities and those infected with COVID-19.

84.7% of ballots from Tuesday's general election were counted by 10:44 a.m. on Wednesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party is projected to receive 31 seats, according to Wednesday 9:55 a.m. poll results.

Yesh Atid is projected to get 24, followed distantly by the Religious Zionist Party, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, with 14.

Gantz's National Unity Party and the ultra-Orthodox Shas have 12 projected seats, and United Torah Judaism dropped to eight.

Yisrael Beytenu, Ra'am and  Ayman Odeh's Hadash-Ta'al are projected to take five seats.

Merav Michaeli's Labor Party would take four seats.

Meretz has still been unable to pass the electoral threshold with the current counting. 

84.3% of the ballots from Tuesday's general election were counted by 9:55 a.m. Wednesday.

Netanyahu's Likud party is projected to receive 31 seats, according to Wednesday 9:10 a.m. poll results.

Yesh Atid is projected to get 24, followed distantly by the Religious Zionist Party, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, with 14.

Gantz's National Unity Party has 12 projected seats, the ultra-Orthodox Shas 11, and United Torah Judaism has nine.

Yisrael Beytenu, Ra'am and  Ayman Odeh's Hadash-Ta'al are projected to take five seats.

Merav Michaeli's Labor Party would take four seats.

While Ra'am has managed to pass the electoral threshold, Meretz has been unable to with the current counting. 

If conditions hold with almost 80% of the ballots counted at 9:10 a.m., the Netanyahu bloc would be able to achieve 65 seats with a coalition. 

The previous coalition could muster 50 seats, and Hadash-Ta'al five seats.

79.8% of the ballots from Tuesday's general election were counted by 9:10 a.m. on Wednesday.

The Netanyahu bloc is set to secure 67 seats for its coalition if numbers continued to hold after 71.3% of votes were counted on Wednesday 7 a.m.

The previous coalition appears to have shrunk to 49 mandates, and Hadash-Ta'al would have four.