Midday Voter Turnout in Israel's General Election Hits Record High Amid Concerns Over Non-Acceptance of Results

The midday voter turnout in Israel's general election, which will determine whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to power or loses it, has hit a record high, raising a sense of crisis within the right-wing ruling coalition.

Amid the high turnout, the ruling bloc is staking everything on rallying its base, while the opposition has warned of the possibility that Prime Minister Netanyahu may refuse to accept the election results.

According to the Israeli Central Election Commission on the 27th (local time), the voter turnout for the general election, which began at 7 a.m. that day, was tallied at 55.7% as of 4 p.m.

This is more than 8 percentage points higher than the 47.5% turnout recorded at the same time during the previous election in 2022.

This is the highest voter turnout ever recorded for the same time slot.

The Israeli Election Commission has been compiling hourly voter turnout data since 1973.

As voting enthusiasm intensified, the election commission stated that if there are still lines waiting after the polls close at 10 p.m., it will extend the operation of the polling stations.

It is widely observed that the unusually high voter turnout will work to the disadvantage of the current ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Amid a prevailing sentiment calling for judgment on the administration and the high turnout, key figures in the ruling camp urgently rushed to encourage the participation of conservative voters while keeping Arab voters in check.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released a video statement in the Arab city of Kafr Qasim, urging, "If you want Israel to remain a Jewish state in the face of the 'crazy voter turnout' in Arab society, come out to the polling stations."

Prime Minister Netanyahu also claimed that "Arab voters are flocking to the polling stations," arguing that the opposing camp is trying to steal the election.

The opposition strongly protested, claiming that such claims by the ruling camp are preliminary groundwork to refuse to accept the results in the event of an election defeat.

The opposition party Yesh Atid, led by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, criticized in a statement, "Netanyahu is in a state of panic and fabricating claims of election rigging without evidence," adding, "This is no coincidence, but laying the groundwork to contest the election results."

The Yesh Atid side then appealed to supporters to deliver victory by an overwhelming margin of votes so that such far-fetched claims cannot take root.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.