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Israelis are heading to the ballots in the unprecedented fifth election since 2019, as the country's political system has been immobilised for almost four years.
With his Likud party, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc has polled strongest, up to 61 seats in major network polls, The Times of Israel reported on Tuesday. Current caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid's bloc has never passed 56 seats in those polls, and he has been unable to articulate how he would form a government if the opinion polls prove true, the report added. As no bloc is seen clinching the 61-lawmaker majority in the 120-seat parliament, multiple opinion polls predict an incredibly tight race between parliament's two blocs, with a possibility of further stalemate. More than 6.7 million eligible voters could cast their votes in 12,495 ballots, according to figures issued by the Central Elections Committee. Some 18,000 police officers are deployed throughout the country for preventing fraud attempts, manage traffic and keep security. A total of 40 parties are running for seats in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset. However, only about 11 of them are projected to pass the electoral threshold needed to enter the parliament, which now stands at 3.25 percent of the total votes. Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, is not running as an incumbent prime minister. He is planning to return to power with his right-wing Likud party and a far-right and Jewish ultra-Orthodox coalition. Netanyahu had served as prime minister for 12 consecutive years before being ousted in June 2021 by a cross-partisan coalition led by current PM Yair Lapid. However, recent opinion polls predict no candidate would gain an outright majority to build a coalition in the Knesset. The vote will end at 10 p.m. local time with results from exit polls expected immediately afterward. According to the Central Elections Committee, official final results are expected by Thursday. (ANI)
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