Record turnout in Israel: election panel rejects Likud bid to keep polls open longer
Turnout reached 66.7% by 6 p.m., nine points above 2022. Polls close as scheduled at 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT); anyone in line by then will still be able to vote.
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Israel's parliamentary election is heading for record turnout. According to the Central Elections Committee, 66.7% of some 7.33 million eligible voters had cast ballots by 6 p.m. local time, nine percentage points more than at the same point in 2022. Committee Director-General Din Livne said the figures broke every record documented since 1973, Il Sole 24 Ore reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and its allies had asked for polling stations to stay open past 10 p.m. Otzma Yehudit and Shas cited congestion and unusually long waiting times. Challenger Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party opposed the request, saying no exceptional circumstances had arisen to justify it. The committee rejected the bid in the evening. According to the Times of Israel, it cited high turnout across all populations and said anyone who reaches a polling station by 10 p.m. can still vote, even if lines are long.
Only in the Jewish settlement in Hebron in the West Bank was voting extended, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., because of a power outage. Election day was marked by mutual accusations: Netanyahu urged supporters to vote, citing high turnout among Arab citizens, while the Association for Civil Rights in Israel complained of delays in at least 18 communities, Al Jazeera reported. Exit polls are expected when polls close.