Jerusalem:More than 233,000 double-envelope ballots, nearly 50% of the total, have been counted in Israel's recent elections, as reported by Israeli media on Thursday.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, a total of 233,815 double-envelope ballots have been counted out of nearly 500,000, as detailed by the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. These double-envelope ballots are used by voters such as soldiers, diplomats, police officers, and displaced residents who cast their votes away from their registered polling stations. To prevent duplicate voting, officials verify identification details on the outer envelope before separating it from the anonymous ballot for counting.

The counting of the remaining votes could potentially alter the seat totals for individual parties and affect the balance between the rival political blocs. The Central Elections Committee has estimated that the count of the double-envelope ballots will be completed later in the afternoon.

Following the counting of all regular ballots, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc was projected to win 53 seats. In contrast, the opposition bloc led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot was projected to secure 48 seats, with predominantly Arab parties expected to win 19 seats, according to Channel 12. Neither main bloc was anticipated to achieve the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.

The Joint List was projected to secure 12 seats, and the United Arab List (Ra'am) was expected to obtain seven, resulting in a record combined representation of 19 seats for Arab parties. Voter turnout reached 77.7%, marking the highest participation rate since 1999, as reported by the election committee.