Polling is underway across Israel, with voters choosing representatives to the country’s 120-member Knesset. With 7.3 million eligible voters and 36 parties contesting the election, the outcome will determine the balance of power in parliament.
Voting will end at 10 pm local time tonight. The election comes amid intense debate over national security, the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, military service and the country’s future political direction.
The election is widely viewed as a test of Netanyahu’s leadership, with opposition figures, including former military chief Gadi Eisenkot and former prime minister Naftali Bennett, seeking to challenge his right-wing coalition.
Israel follows a nationwide proportional representation system in which the entire country constitutes a single electoral constituency.
Political parties must secure at least 3.25% of the national vote to enter the Knesset. Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, has served as prime minister for nearly 19 years across three separate periods since 1996.
Former Israel Defence Forces chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who leads the centrist Yashar party, has emerged as one of Netanyahu’s principal challengers.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett is leading the B’Yachad electoral alliance, which includes former prime minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.
Other significant political players include Yair Golan’s left-leaning Democrats, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and Arab-led parties such as Ra’am and the Joint List