{"id":666941,"date":"2026-10-27T15:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/666941\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T15:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T15:52:09","slug":"turnout-highest-in-decades-as-israelis-vote-in-pivotal-election-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/666941\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnout highest in decades as Israelis vote in pivotal election \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israelis<\/a> were on Tuesday voting in an election that many regard as the most important<\/a> in the country\u2019s near-80-year history, one that offers a choice between two radically different visions of its future.<\/p>\n

The poll, the first since Hamas\u2019s <\/a>October 7th 2023 attack on Israel, pits prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s<\/a> far-right coalition \u2014 which has ruled the country for four years \u2014 against a bloc of Jewish opposition groups centred around former general Gadi Eisenkot\u2019s Yashar party.<\/p>\n

By 2pm local time, turnout had reached 44.7 per cent, the highest figure recorded by that time on election day since 1973, with politicians from all camps urging their supporters to vote and queues forming at some polling stations.<\/p>\n

In an effort to rally his base, Netanyahu said political leaders from Israel\u2019s Arab minority \u2014 who make up a fifth of the population \u2014 were claiming that their voters were flocking to the polls, and exhorted right-wing supporters to do the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voter turnout there is very high. We are the ones who need to flock to the polling stations,\u201d Netanyahu, who has repeatedly deployed divisive rhetoric to lash out at his opponents, said after voting in Jerusalem. \u201cWe can\u2019t leave the battle here in the hands of the left and the Arab parties that want to bring an end to the Jewish state \u2014 that\u2019s what\u2019s at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Israeli elections: what you need to know Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Opinion surveys suggest the race is on a knife-edge, with neither Netanyahu\u2019s coalition nor the Jewish opposition parties on course to win an absolute majority in Israel\u2019s parliament, unless they renege on pre-election promises not to rely on the backing of Arab parties.<\/p>\n

Whether anyone can form a government is therefore expected to depend on post-election deal-making, which will be overseen by Israel\u2019s president Isaac Herzog and could last several weeks.<\/p>\n

However, the choice is widely seen as being as stark as any put before Israeli voters. \u201c[This] is not about one settlement or one economic policy or one specific issue,\u201d said Shmuel Rosner, an Israeli pollster. \u201cIt\u2019s about the core identity of this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of Netanyahu\u2019s coalition, the most right-wing in Israeli history, are proposing measures ranging from emptying Gaza <\/a>of Palestinians<\/a> and annexing the occupied West Bank to resuming a controversial judicial overhaul that sparked months of protests when they launched it in 2023.<\/p>\n

The opposition has pledged to reverse the parts of that overhaul that have already become law, launch a state inquiry into the failings surrounding October 7th and end the decades-old exemption from military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews \u2014 long a source of contention among other Jewish Israelis.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s Likud party and its allies, who were in power on October 7th, have resisted calls for a state inquiry. Their coalition, which includes two ultra-Orthodox parties, has also repeatedly put off passing legislation on ultra-Orthodox conscription.<\/p>\n

As voting got under way on Tuesday, multiple parties alleged that there had been voting irregularities. However, the electoral commission said there was no evidence of systematic tampering with votes.<\/p>\n

The final days of campaigning have taken place in an increasingly febrile atmosphere, with Netanyahu seeking to portray himself as the only person who can protect Israel from Iran \u2014 which he insists is racing to build nuclear weapons \u2014 and other external dangers.<\/p>\n

In a television interview on Sunday, he pledged to resume the US-Israeli war against Iran, and posted an article from a right-wing activist warning of a \u201csecond Holocaust\u201d if he were not re-elected, illustrated with an image of a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians have hit back, accusing the veteran prime minister of playing politics with Israel\u2019s security. \u201cThe man on whose watch the greatest disaster in the state\u2019s history occurred refuses to understand that Israel\u2019s security is not a political bargaining chip\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009and the State of Israel is not his personal property,\u201d Eisenkot wrote on X on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Many Netanyahu voters are unmoved by such criticisms. \u201cThe most important thing about this election is that Netanyahu will win,\u201d said Moti, a start-up founder who voted in the settlement of Efrat in the West Bank and declined to give his second name. \u201cHe is a diplomat. He is strong. He has what it takes to be a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

But others believe fresh leadership is needed. \u201cI always voted for [Netanyahu]. But October 7 was the tipping point. To reach this type of situation did not take one or two weeks. It was 25 years in the making,\u201d said Sharon, an English teacher from the town of Gedera, who declined to give her second name and said she would vote for B\u2019Yachad, which is part of Eisenkot\u2019s opposition bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked my students what other country has someone who has been in power for 20 years. And they said Russia. We need a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final result will depend on which parties make it into Israel\u2019s 120-seat parliament. The final polls from last week suggested that Eisenkot\u2019s bloc would win about 54 seats, Netanyahu\u2019s coalition about 50, and the Arab and unaligned parties would win the remainder.<\/p>\n

However, the outcome could deviate from pollsters\u2019 forecasts depending on how many small groups cross the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold.<\/p>\n

Herzog has said he will do everything in his power to avoid a series of inconclusive elections, such as the cycle that played out between 2019 and 2021, raising the prospect that he could push Eisenkot and Netanyahu to form a national unity government if neither can build an administration on their own.<\/p>\n

However, if no politician can command a majority in the new Knesset, fresh elections would have to be called. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Binyamin Netanyahu posts AI image of nuclear explosion in advance of Israeli electionsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israelis were on Tuesday voting in an election that many regard as the most important in the country\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10748,42,3410,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-666941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-binyamin-netanyahu","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}