BICOM

Israelis will today cast their ballots to elect a new Knesset, with almost six million voters set to determine whether Likud leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog has the opportunity to form the next government.

Polls will open at 7am, handing 5,883,365 registered voters the chance to cast their votes in one of 10,119 ballot boxes across the country. They include 255 ballot boxes in hospitals and 56 in 27 prisons, with convicts also able to vote. In total, 25 parties are standing for election, with parliamentary seats distributed as a proportion of the total votes cast. However, the minimum electoral threshold was raised before the current campaign, meaning that a party must secure 3.25 per cent of the vote to be elected. Polls indicate that the likes of Meretz and Yisrael Beitenu, both mainstays of the political landscape, may struggle to reach the threshold.

Polls will close at 10pm, at which point the three major television channels will publish their exit polls, which are considered authoritative. However, some deviation can be expected by the time 99 per cent of votes are tallied on Thursday. The final results will be handed to President Reuven Rivlin on 25 March.

Rivlin recently publicly urged Israelis to vote, warning that “apathy and despair aren’t an option.” Rivlin is expected to vote at a polling station in a school in Jerusalem. Netanyahu will also cast his ballot in Jerusalem, while Herzog will vote in north Tel Aviv. Meanwhile, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will vote in nearby Ramat Aviv.

Channel Two predicted that around 80 per cent of registered voters will exercise their right to vote. Such a turnout would be a significant increase on recent elections, with voter turnout at around 65 per cent since 2001. A markedly higher than usual turnout is expected among Israel’s Arab citizens who appear to have been galvanized by the amalgamation of smaller parties into the Joint Arab List.