Israel's Central Elections Committee has announced that the tied exit polls between the Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs will be settled by a public draw, with the remaining seats to be allocated by lot in the open air outside the Knesset. Officials said the procedure was adopted after two days of deliberation in which no party agreed to a coalition and no bloc would accept the other's numbers as final.
Election staff have spent the past week building a wooden barrel large enough to hold 120 numbered wooden balls, each painted in the colours of a party. Workers in Jerusalem's Independence Park assembled the barrel on a raised platform, and a rope barrier now runs the length of the square so that observers can line up in order of arrival. Police said the queue had already reached the Shuk Mahane Yehuda market by midday.
A spokesperson for the committee, Hadas Ravid, told reporters that the draw was "the most transparent method available once the arithmetic had stopped cooperating," and that each ball would be lifted by a different citizen chosen at random from a list of volunteers. Likud and the Eisenkot alliance have both agreed to abide by the result, though neither has yet agreed on which colour should be drawn first.
Schools in the capital have been asked to release students early so that they may take turns at the barrel, and the Ministry of Transport has added an extra tram carriage to the Jerusalem line to handle visitors. Analysts said the outcome could determine whether the next government is formed in weeks or in a single afternoon.