Voter Turnout Surges to 74.3% Ahead of Election Polls Closing
Translated & summarized from Now 14 by baba
Voter turnout for Israel's 26th Knesset elections reached 74.3% by 8:00 PM, an 8.3 percentage point increase from the previous election. Polls close at 10:00 PM, with exit polls to follow. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed concern over high turnout in certain communities, warning of wasted votes. The Likud party requested an extension of voting hours due to long queues.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Voter turnout reached 74.3% by 8:00 PM, an 8.3% increase from the previous election.
- Polls close at 10:00 PM, with exit polls expected shortly after.
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned of wasted votes due to high turnout in specific communities.
- The Likud party requested an extension of voting hours due to long queues at polling stations.
- The electoral threshold of 3.25% may require more votes for smaller parties due to higher overall turnout.
With one hour remaining until polls close in Israel's 26th Knesset elections, voter turnout has reached 74.3%, according to the Central Elections Committee. As of 8:00 PM, 5,449,277 eligible voters had cast their ballots. This represents a significant increase of 8.3 percentage points compared to the same time in the previous election, when turnout stood at 66%.
The committee's acting Director General, Dean Livna, announced the figures at a press conference held at the committee's control center in the Knesset. Officials from the committee expressed satisfaction with the high participation, highlighting that millions of Israelis have exercised their democratic right to influence the composition of the next Knesset.
Polls are scheduled to close across the country at 10:00 PM, immediately after which television channels are expected to release exit polls. The Central Elections Committee will continue to publish national voting data until 11:00 PM.
Concerns were raised by senior figures on the right, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, regarding high turnout in Arab communities and left-leaning areas. Smotrich warned that this could lead to wasted votes on smaller parties that might not pass the electoral threshold of 3.25%. The increased number of total votes means parties close to the threshold may require more votes than in past elections to secure Knesset representation.
Amidst heavy crowds and long queues at some polling stations, the Likud party requested an extension of voting hours beyond 10:00 PM. The Central Elections Committee is reportedly considering this possibility to allow more voters to cast their ballots.
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