Orthodox, Right-Wing Parties Win Most Seats in World Zionist Congress Elections

Orthodox and right-wing parties made big gains in the 2025 World Zionist Congress elections, preliminary results released last week show.

The voting determines which “slates,” or parties, send the 152 US delegates to the congress, which is known as the “parliament” of the Jewish people.

Estimates have right-wing parties winning 81 of 152 seats, and liberal parties winning the remaining 71 seats.

The Reform movement’s slate won the most votes, almost reaching 48,000 — about 21 percent of the total.

“This is more than just a win for our slate — it is a resounding mandate for the values we champion,” said Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, in a statement last week. “In a moment of global uncertainty and rising antisemitism, our community stepped forward with clarity and courage to say: we will lead, we will protect democracy, and we will build a more just and inclusive future for Jews everywhere.”

However, the Reform slate’s success was not a significant surprise. Rather, it was the success of conservative, Orthodox, and right-wing parties that represented the most significant development.

“For the first time, the conservative and right-wing bloc has achieved a clear majority,” World Zionist Organization (WZO) Chairman Yaakov Hagoel said in a statement cited by the Times of Israel. “This is a historic moment in which American Jewry has voiced a strong stand for proud Zionism, for tradition and for bringing hearts together.”

The second and third place slates — Am Yisrael Chai and Eretz Hakodesh — are both Orthodox and won 13.8 and 12.7 percent of the vote, respectively. Eretz Hakodesh is affiliated with Israel’s Ashkenazi Haredi political party, United Torah Judaism, while Am Yisrael Chai is a coalition of college students and young professionals focused on pro-Israel advocacy and love of Judaism. Additionally, the Orthodox Israel Coalition — representing mainstream Orthodox institutions such as Yeshiva University and the Orthodox Union — came in fifth place with 11.7 percent of the vote.

In all, Orthodox parties received more than 40 percent of the vote in this year’s election.

Mercaz USA, the slate of the Conservative movement, came in fourth place, and a progressive slate called Hatikvah came in sixth.

This election had the largest US turnout in the history of the World Zionist Congress, with more than 230,000 votes cast.

“American Jews have spoken — through their record-breaking turnout in the 2025 World Zionist Congress election, they have powerfully demonstrated that Zionism in the United States is not only alive and well but stronger than ever,” said Herbert Block, executive director of American Zionist Movement. “Thanks to this historic participation in the election, US Jewry is poised to make an indelible mark when the World Zionist Congress gathers in October.”

The press release announcing the results added, “A record 22 slates representing diverse political beliefs, religious denominations, and cultural traditions competed in the election, which is held once every five years. This represented a 57 percent surge from the 14 American slates that won seats in the Congress in 2020.”

At the same time, there were 18,948 votes that were invalidated due to suspicions of fraud. Am Yisrael Chai and Eretz Hakodesh are reportedly believed to be among the six parties to benefit from seemingly orchestrated campaigns to increase vote counts using duplicate email addresses and suspicious pre-paid credit cards. The World Zionist Organization’s Area Election Committee is investigating the alleged fraud and considering how to penalize those connected to it.

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