Israel turnout hits 44.9% by 2 p.m., a record for the hour

Turnout in Israel’s Knesset election reached 44.9 per cent of eligible voters by 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the highest rate ever recorded at that hour, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and challenger Gadi Eisenkot traded accusations over election integrity.

The figure, about 3.29 million people, was reported by Israel Hayom, which quoted the Central Elections Committee as saying: “We have crossed all the records registered with the Central Elections Committee.” The Times of Israel, citing the committee’s acting director general, Dean Livne, reported the same 44.9 per cent figure and later put turnout at 55.7 per cent as of 4 p.m. Israel Hayom said turnout at noon was 31.5 per cent, the highest for that hour in 53 years.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and are scheduled to close at 10 p.m. local time (8 p.m. GMT), Al Jazeera reported. The election committee said polling stations would stay open past 10 p.m. for anyone already in line. About 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote, including 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, Al Jazeera said.

Israel Hayom reported that 48 per cent of serving soldiers had voted by 1 p.m., compared with 44.4 per cent at the same hour in the previous Knesset election. The Times of Israel said the Israel Prison Service reported 68.1 per cent turnout among eligible prisoners as of 2 p.m.

The campaign ended with no bloc near a majority. As of last Friday, an average of polls on Channels 11, 12 and 13, collated by Haaretz, projected 50 seats for Netanyahu’s bloc and 54 for the opposition bloc led by Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff. A majority in the 120-seat Knesset requires 61. Our preview of the vote and earlier reporting on Donald Trump’s backing of Netanyahu set out the polling picture.

The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu said at 1:12 p.m. that Arab voters were “racing to the ballots” and accused activists of the Arab party Ra’am of “trying to steal the election from us.” Eisenkot’s Yashar party said at 2:27 p.m. that Netanyahu was laying the groundwork to contest the results with baseless fraud claims. The Times of Israel also reported that the election committee rejected several foul-play complaints. Those claims and counter-claims have not been independently verified.

Yousef Jabareen of the Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties, accused Netanyahu of inciting against Arab citizens and said turnout in Jewish communities remained higher than in Arab ones, contrary to the prime minister’s claims, the Times of Israel reported. The newspaper said long lines and slow identification checks were reported in some Arab communities, and that no Arab turnout figure had been published.

The Times of Israel also reported that a man was arrested after approaching Democrats leader Yair Golan with a knife. The paper said the Israel Defense Forces had said a separate video, showing a soldier beating a Palestinian detainee in the South Hebron Hills, was under review.

Exit polls are expected soon after voting closes, but Al Jazeera said a final verdict could take days. The final tally is expected by Friday, and official results are to be published on Nov. 4. President Isaac Herzog will then consult party leaders and pick the candidate with the best chance of forming a government, who has up to 42 days to do so. If no government forms, Netanyahu’s cabinet stays on as a caretaker government, and a failure of all talks would force a new election.

Israelis abroad, including those living in Canada, cannot vote because the country has no general absentee ballot, Al Jazeera reported. Only diplomats and state emissaries voted at Israeli missions, on Oct. 20.

This story is developing and will be updated when exit polls and the first official results are published.

Via the Times of Israel, Israel Hayom and Al Jazeera.

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