ISRAEL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE REPORTS 50-YEAR TURNOUT HIGH

Israel’s Central Elections Committee said almost 45 per cent of voters had cast ballots by 2pm on Tuesday, the highest turnout at that point in 50 years. The committee said the figure was six per cent higher than at the same time in the 2022 election. Earlier, it reported turnout of 16.68 per cent in the first three hours of voting. Dean Livne, the committee’s acting director general, said more than 1.2 million Israelis had voted by 10am. The committee said that early rate was the highest at that stage since 1981.

Israeli officials reported exceptionally long queues at several polling stations and linked them to high turnout. Rain and strong winds affected parts of Israel, and some areas faced a flood warning. The election follows the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 and the wars that followed. Those wars brought Israel its most intense period of combat since Egypt and Syria launched a surprise military campaign in 1973.

More than five hours after polls opened, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged supporters to vote. He said turnout was high among his opponents on the left and among Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about a fifth of the population. “We need it to be high too. You all need to stream to the polls,” Netanyahu said. Mitchell Barak, a pollster and former Netanyahu aide, said higher turnout increases the number of votes a party needs to reach the 3.25 per cent threshold for seats in the Knesset.