not everywhere· Politics· Updated 27 Oct, 23:44

Israel Election Sees 25-Year High Turnout Amid Tight Exit Poll Results

Israelis voted in the elections for the 26th Knesset on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, recording a historic voter turnout of 77.7% by the time polls closed at 10:00 PM. This represents the highest participation rate in approximately 25 years, with 5,695,682 citizens casting their ballots.

8 newsrooms · 3 languages · since 27 Oct, 09:00

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Israel Election Sees 25-Year High Turnout Amid Tight Exit Poll Results — Illustration by baba

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What happened

01Israel recorded a 77.7% voter turnout in the 26th Knesset elections on Tuesday, the highest participation rate in 25 years.
02A total of 5,695,682 citizens cast their ballots by the time polling stations closed at 10:00 PM.
03The final turnout represents a 7.1 percentage point increase compared to the previous Knesset election.
04By 8:00 PM, voter turnout had reached 74.3%, with over 5.4 million Israelis having voted.
05Despite significant crowds at polling stations nationwide, officials decided against extending voting hours past 10:00 PM.
06The Central Elections Committee has begun the manual counting and verification of ballots across the country.
07Exit polls projected 52 seats for the anti-Netanyahu bloc, 50 seats for his allies, and 18 seats for Arab parties.

Throughout the day, the Central Elections Committee and the Survey of Israel tracked participation rates nationwide. By 8:00 PM, turnout had reached 74.3%, which was already an increase of about 8 percentage points compared to the same hour in the previous election. Despite heavy crowds at numerous polling stations, officials decided not to extend voting hours past the 10:00 PM deadline.

With the polls closed, the manual counting and verification of ballots has commenced. The high turnout is expected to impact parties near the 3.25% electoral threshold. According to Ynetnews, updated television exit polls projected a tight race, with the bloc opposing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu securing 52 seats and his allies winning 50 seats, while Arab parties are projected to win 18 seats.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 6 newsrooms. Updated 06:43