Israel’s first general election since the 7 October 2023 attack got off to a busy start on Tuesday. Three hours after polling stations opened, the Central Elections Committee put turnout at 16.7%, up from 15.9% at the same hour in 2022 and the strongest early showing since 1981. Some 7.3 million citizens are eligible to choose the 120 members of the Knesset from 37 competing lists, and reports say an unprecedented number of expatriates flew home to take part.
The vote is, above all, a verdict on Benjamin Netanyahu. Aged 77 and with roughly 19 years in office behind him, more than any predecessor, he is chasing a seventh term and again relies on a pact with ultra-nationalist and religious parties. His chief rival is Gadi Eisenkot, once the military’s top general, whose young Yashar party leads a loose ‘change bloc’ that also includes Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and the left-leaning ex-general Yair Golan.
Final polls showed the two camps almost level, with neither reaching the 61 seats required for a majority. That makes the two Arab-led lists potential kingmakers, even though most of the larger Jewish parties refuse to share power with them.
Security dominated the campaign: the opposition hammered the government over the failures of 7 October and demanded an independent inquiry, while Netanyahu presented himself once again as the guardian of the nation against Iran. Conscription for ultra-Orthodox seminary students was another flashpoint, and a Channel 12 survey suggested that prices and household budgets weigh most heavily on voters’ minds. Casting his ballot in Jerusalem, Netanyahu called it a “fateful moment”.
Broadcasters will release exit polls when voting ends at 10pm local time (9pm in Berlin). Many soldiers’ ballots will only be counted on Wednesday, so the picture may shift overnight, and coalition bargaining could drag on well into the winter.
