// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Israel's election deadlock is a sign of the country's deep divisions
"Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried." So said Winston Churchill in the House of Commons in 1947.
His aphorism came to mind as Israel's election results filtered through on Tuesday night - exit polls blending with ballots that were cast to dash or fulfil people's hopes and fears.
This election has, in some ways, been a celebration of democracy. Voters turning out in record numbers, Jews and Arabs alike. Many spent thousands to fly in from abroad to cast their ballot.
At polling stations across the country, we saw the passion of campaigners, as they used every minute to try to change that last mind and win that last vote.
President Isaac Herzog said the election was a "badge of honour" for Israeli society. "It is remarkable to see how deep the desire for democracy is in Israel," he exclaimed.
Yet this election left the most established democracy in the Middle East without a clear path to a new government. It produced an inconclusive result where neither opposing bloc will have a majority in parliament.
Israel has never had a one-party government. Its fragmented, proportional representation system is almost designed to govern by coalition.
Yet many commentators warned this election had revealed the fundamental and perhaps growing divisions that scar this nation. This was not a plebiscite in which an electorate united around a single cause.
Some of these fissures are not new. There were divisions over judicial reforms that led to mass demonstrations in the early years of this government.
There were also divisions over how to respond to the deadly 7 October 2023 attacks - whether to save hostages or destroy Hamas. The casualties suffered by Israeli reservists in the fighting in Gaza that followed deepened tensions over the exemption of ultra-Orthodox young men from military service.