[1] The result was initially a stalemate, which was resolved when Likud and Blue & White reached a coalition agreement.

The extended period of political deadlock that led up to the election was the result of close races in April and September 2019 that left both incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition favorite Benny Gantz unable to muster a 61-seat governing majority, in coalition with their respective blocs of smaller, ideologically allied parties.

[3] However, substantial disagreements over the terms of such a government prevented one from being formed, as Netanyahu demanded the inclusion of his allied right-wing, religious parties, and Gantz refused to cooperate with a Netanyahu-led Likud as long as he was under indictment for alleged bribery and fraud.

Orly Adas, director of the Central Elections Committee, cautioned that she lacked the necessary funding and staff to conduct a third election,[4] and President Reuven Rivlin stressed his desire to avoid calling one, repeatedly expressing his dismay at the failure to form a unity government.

Nevertheless, as required by the Basic Law, he initiated on 21 November 2019 a 21-day period in which any member of the Knesset (MK) who received the support of 60 of their fellow lawmakers was allowed to try to form a government.

[5] The 120 seats in the Knesset are elected by closed list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency.

[9][4] A Knesset bill was required to be passed to allow the election date to be moved up to earlier in March.

[60] Around three hours later, two of the channels released updated polls that took into account voting between 20:00 and 22:00, which showed a slight drop in predicted seats for the right-wing bloc.

[62] Orly Levy announced on 10 March that she would not support a minority government and had unofficially left the Labor–Gesher–Meretz alliance.

[68] However, after the election and with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, Gantz reversed his stance and announced he was willing to support an emergency coalition with Netanyahu.

[71][72] The fact that right-wingers in Netanyahu's coalition agreed to support Gantz's bid to become speaker put the future of the Blue and White alliance in jeopardy.

[72] On 27 March 2020, it was revealed that a major obstacle to a possible long-term alliance between Gantz and Netanyahu emerged with regards to implementing U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan.

[79] It was also agreed that the new Israeli government would have an equal number of cabinet ministers aligned with Likud and Blue and White.

[84] The same day, however, officials from both the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Labor parties signed the coalition deal.

[90] The same day, both Blue and White and Likud issued a joint statement claiming that the new unity government would be sworn in the following week.