Israel Election Live Updates: Early Turnout Appears Strong as Netanyahu Faces Challenge Led by Eisenkot
Jerusalem, October 27 - Israelis headed to the polls in large numbers on Tuesday in an election that many see as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By midday, voter turnout was 31.5 percent, higher than in any Israeli general election since the 1970s, according to the Central Elections Committee.
The election is Israel's first since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, which upended the nation and ignited three years of war. It has the potential to be one of the most consequential in the country's history, with voters facing a choice between two blocs offering starkly different visions.
Netanyahu's far-right coalition, which has dominated Israeli politics for decades, faces opposition parties loosely led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff whose son was killed in the Gaza war. Eisenkot's group has called for a reckoning over Netanyahu's failure to prevent the attacks and has pledged to repair Israel's shattered image abroad.
Netanyahu's coalition offers the promise of a more religious Israel with an ever-tighter grip over the West Bank and Gaza, while his opponents cast the vote as the last chance to preserve democracy and pull Israel back from the brink of becoming a pariah state under international sanctions.
The election is unlikely to deliver an immediate verdict on who will be the next prime minister, with opinion polls suggesting that Netanyahu's allies and rivals are roughly tied. Assembling a governing coalition in Israel's parliamentary system could take weeks or months.
