Jerusalem:More than 29,000 double-envelope ballots, constituting about 6% of the total votes, have been counted in Israel's elections. The Central Elections Committee is expected to conclude the count by the afternoon, as reported by Israeli media on Thursday.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth noted that a total of 29,253 double-envelope ballots had been counted out of nearly 500,000. These ballots are used by voters who cast their votes away from their registered polling stations, including soldiers, diplomats, police officers, and displaced residents.

To ensure there is no duplicate voting, officials check identification details on the outer envelope before separating it from the anonymous ballot for counting. The remaining votes could potentially alter the seat totals for individual parties and shift the balance between rival blocs.

After counting all regular ballots, projections indicated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc would secure 53 seats, while the opposition bloc led by Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot would take 48 seats. Predominantly Arab parties were expected to win 19 seats, according to Channel 12. Neither of the main blocs was projected to achieve the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.

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