Israelis vote in parliamentary elections

JERUSALEM, Occupied Palestine (MNTV) – Voting began Tuesday in Israel’s parliamentary elections, with more than 7.3 million people eligible to cast ballots to elect the 120-member Knesset.

Polling stations opened at 7 am local time (0500GMT) and are scheduled to close at 10 pm (2000GMT), according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee.

A total of 12,018 polling stations and approximately 18,000 ballot boxes have been prepared nationwide, with around 100,000 election workers deployed.

Thirty-seven parties and electoral lists are competing in the elections, with at least 61 seats required to form a governing coalition.

The main contenders include Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, former Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party and the Together alliance led by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Other prominent parties are the Democrats led by Yair Golan, Yisrael Beiteinu, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, and Jewish Power, led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Palestinian-led parties include the Joint List headed by Yousef Jabareen and the United Arab List (Ra’am) led by Mansour Abbas.

The elections represent Israel’s first general vote since the start of its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.

Vote counting will begin after polling stations close at 10 pm local time (2000GMT), when Israeli television channels are expected to release exit polls.

Initial results are expected to emerge overnight, while the official results are scheduled to be published by Nov. 4, according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee.

Separately, 4,218 Israelis cast their ballots during early voting at 101 polling stations established at 99 diplomatic missions abroad on Oct. 15–16, representing 86.7% of the 4,863 eligible overseas voters, according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee.