Israel elections: voting ends with low turnout, reaching just over 67%

Israel elections: voting ends with low turnout, reaching just over 67%

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A total of 4,420,677 Israeli voters, comprising 67.2% of those eligible, voted until 10 pm, when voting was closed, announced the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Orly Adas, on Tuesday.

This is a reduction of approximately 4.3% over the same period as the last elections in Israel.

Electoral participation has been the lowest since 2009 throughout the day, breaking the sequence only at 8 pm, when, in 2009, participation was 59.7%, and total participation was 65.2%. About 305 votes were counted from 8 pm at Ben-Gurion Airport. In contrast, electoral participation in the IDF increased by 7% in this election, by 77%, the IDF announced in a tweet.

Electoral participation can have a major influence on parties that cross the electoral threshold and join the Knesset. Blue and White, Meretz and the Religious Zionist Party are all teetering on the brink in last week’s polls. Some expressed concern that, as Israelis are going to the polls for the fourth time in less than two years, many qualified voters may not have bothered to go to the polls due to widespread apathy.

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