As of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, some 1,760,076 people, or 15.9% of eligible voters, had cast a ballot in elections for the 25th Knesset, according to Israeli Central Elections Committee (CEC) CEO Orly Ades. The 10 a.m. turnout is the highest since 1981, surpassing the 14.8% figure set during the last election, in March 2021.
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The high turnout reflects the electorate's trust in the Jewish state's democratic system, said Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a visit to the CEC at the Knesset.
The figures for 4 p.m. showed that 47.5% of eligible voters had cast a ballot, marking a spike of 4.2% compared to 2021. This was the highest turnout since 1999, when Israelis voted under a different system with direct election for prime minister.
Some 6.7 million Israelis are on the voter rolls, with more than 12,000 polling stations opened across Israel and its embassies abroad. Election Day events were largely uneventful, as of 6 p.m., despite minor disturbances. In one case, expletive graffiti against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his immediate successor Naftali Bennett were scrawled on buildings an Eilat; in another case, a left-wing Meretz supporter tried to desecrate phylactery (tefillin) near a religious center, apparently in protest of Haredim in Natanya. The suspect, whom Meretz said was not affiliated with the party, took the religious ornament and attached it to his genitals.
The high turnout reflects the electorate's trust in the Jewish state's democratic system, said Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a visit to the CEC at the Knesset.
"It's very impressive to see this diverse, sophisticated, supervised and responsible operation, and I am convinced that the CEC will do its work faithfully and of course will thus reflect the public's confidence in the electoral process," Herzog added.
"Go vote and make a difference, because each vote has an impact," he continued.
JNS.org contributed to this report.
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