Israelis are voting in closely watched elections to decide the direction the country will take, three years after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the genocidal war on Gaza.
The first elections since those attacks come at a time of intensifying Israeli pogroms in the occupied West Bank and amid growing tensions with several of its neighbors, many of which have been attacked over the past three years.
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But the vote also comes amid growing domestic questions facing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the alleged failures that enabled the Oct. 7 attack, his government’s handling of efforts to recover captives taken to Gaza, alleged corruption and disputes over ultra-Orthodox military service.
In the latest polls released Friday, Netanyahu’s coalition is expected to be neck and neck – or slightly behind – the opposition bloc led by former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
According to Israeli media outlet Haaretz, which compiled polls from Israeli news channels, on Friday, an average of Channels 11, 12 and 13 predicted that Netanyahu’s bloc will win 50 seats while Eisenkot’s opposition bloc will win 54. Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset, has 120 seats in total, so 61 is the mark a group needs to reach a majority.
Here’s what you need to know about the election.
When do polls close in Israel?
On Tuesday, polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) and will close at 10:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT).
Around 7.3 million Israelis will be eligible to vote, including 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel. Israelis living abroad cannot vote because the country does not have general mail-in voting, requiring voters to be physically present on election day.
Diplomats and state emissaries are the exception and voted in Israeli missions on October 20.
When will the Israeli election results be announced?
News channels will broadcast exit poll results once the election is over, with the first indications likely within hours of polls closing, but it could take days or even weeks to get a clear result.
The results will also be broadcast live on the Central Election Commission website once voting closes.
Although a clear picture of the election results can be known quickly, if no party or coalition achieves a majority it could take much longer.
The final vote count is expected on Friday, and official election results are officially released a week after the election, on November 4.
How does the electoral system work?
Under a proportional representation system, Israelis vote for a single party, not individual candidates.
The number of seats the party wins in the Knesset is linked to the proportion of votes it obtains. For example, if Netanyahu’s Likud party received 50 percent of the national vote, it would win 50 percent of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
A majority requires 61 of the 120 seats.
For a party to enter the Knesset, it must obtain at least 3.25 percent of the national vote.
It is generally estimated that around a dozen parties have a chance of crossing the threshold, so the final count and allocation of seats will take time.
How is the next Israeli Prime Minister chosen?
Once the final count is made, President Isaac Herzog will talk with party leaders about who they want as prime minister, then select the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a government.
The appointee then has 42 days to form a government. As it stands, no party in Israel has ever achieved an absolute majority, so governments are formed by a coalition of parties and negotiations to form a government often take weeks.
What will happen if Netanyahu or his rivals fail to form a government?
If no government is formed, the current government, that of Netanyahu, will remain an interim government.
But before that, whoever gets the most votes will have different options for gathering support from smaller parties, including forming a minority government or working with another political leader to alternate as prime minister in a power-sharing deal.
If all negotiations fail and no group is able to put together a viable government, new elections will have to be called.
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