🔻Israel’s Central Elections Committee: All voter turnout records have been broken

🔻Israel’s Central Elections Committee: All voter turnout records have been broken

Israel’s Central Elections Committee announced that in the first seven hours of voting, 44.9% of eligible voters cast their ballots.

The committee said that turnout “broke all records.”

Now there are about five hours left until the end of voting.

More than 3.7 million people are eligible to vote to choose 120 members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Electoral analysts are still cautiously discussing the impact of unprecedented turnout on the election result.

An increase in turnout among Israeli citizens of Palestinian descent may prevent the right-wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu from gaining more seats. At the same time, this raises the likelihood that any government formed to remove him will need the support of Arab parties.

More than five hours after the start of voting, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a message to his supporters, urged them to go to the polls.

He said that the turnout of his opponents on the left and also Arab Israeli citizens—who make up about one-fifth of the country’s population—is high: “Our turnout also must be high. All of you should move toward the polling stations. This is a fateful moment.”