Israeli voter turnout hits 77.7% at close of Election Day, highest since 1999

Voter turnout in Israel’s election for the 26th Knesset reached 77.7% by the time polls closed at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Central Elections Committee.

A total of 5,695,682 voters had cast ballots at 10 p.m. The committee said turnout was the highest recorded at that hour since 1999.

Turnout was approximately 7.1 percentage points higher than in the 2022 election, the committee said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Central Elections Committee acting director-general Dean Livne said when presenting the 4 p.m. figures: “The last time we saw similar voting numbers, we reached almost 80% nationwide.”

The Central Elections Committee on Tuesday evening rejected a request to extend voting beyond 10 p.m., saying there was no justification to do so.

The committee’s presidium considered the request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party and the haredi Shas party told JNS they had joined the appeal.

Otzma Yehudit cited heavy crowding and unusually long waits at polling stations across the country.

The committee said high nationwide turnout “across all sectors of society” demonstrated “strong public engagement in the democratic process.” It stressed that every voter who reached a polling station by its closing time would be able to vote.

That meant some voters could cast their ballots after 10 p.m., making the turnout figure for that hour a near-final reading.

Dr. Martin Sherman, head of the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies, told JNS that increased participation appeared to reflect significant mobilization among Arab voters, which he viewed as a challenge for right-wing parties.

“High turnout for the Arabs is bad news for the right wing,” he said.

Sherman attributed opposition mobilization primarily to hostility toward Netanyahu and the dispute over haredi enlistment.

Turnout among Israel Defense Forces personnel reached 68% as of 5 p.m., compared with 65% at the same hour in the 2022 election, the military said.

Military voting began on Oct. 21, allowing soldiers and reservists to cast ballots early due to operational requirements. More than 850 polling stations, many of them mobile, were deployed at bases and outposts across operational arenas, including in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.

Sherman predicted that military and younger voters would bolster right-wing parties. Referring to first-time voters, he said they “will strengthen the right.”

Tuesday’s election for the 26th Knesset is Israel’s first general election since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

With polling stations closed, the committee said vote counting, results processing and verification were underway. Results will be published progressively, with figures released during the count remaining partial and subject to change.