Israelis vote with the highest early turnout in decades as Netanyahu fights for survival against Eisenkot’s bloc
Illustrative image: Damascus Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City. Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash (Unsplash License). Not a photo of today’s voting.
Update (October 27, evening): Polls have closed. Exit polls show no bloc reaching a majority — read our latest story. The article below was written while voting was under way.
Israelis are voting on Tuesday, October 27, in a general election widely seen as a verdict on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and early turnout has been the highest in decades. Polls opened at 7am local time (05:00 GMT) and close at 10pm (20:00 GMT, 3pm in Ecuador). About 7.3 million people are eligible to vote, including some 1.2 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, according to Al Jazeera.
Turnout running ahead of recent elections
By 10am, turnout stood at 16.7%, with 1.2 million ballots cast, according to Israel’s Central Elections Committee (CEC) as reported by The Jewish Chronicle’s live coverage. That was 0.8 points above the same point in 2022 and the highest at that hour since 1981. By noon, around two million votes had been cast and turnout had reached about 30%.
The day has not been free of friction. Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and Ofer Winter’s People of Israel filed complaints with the CEC alleging missing or tampered ballot papers and long queues in some areas. These are allegations, and no finding has been announced. Shin Bet director David Zini said the vote was being “monitored and conducted in a proper and inspiring manner.”
Who is running
Netanyahu leads Likud and is allied with Itamar Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism, his far-right partners in the outgoing government. His main challenger is Gadi Eisenkot, a retired army chief who heads Yashar. Infobae reports that the Beyachad alliance of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, Yair Golan’s social democrats and Liberman are aligned with Eisenkot. The ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism are expected to back Netanyahu, while the Arab parties Ra’am and Hadash-Ta’al-Balad lean toward Eisenkot.
US President Donald Trump publicly urged Israelis to vote for Netanyahu twice in the past week, Infobae notes. Eisenkot’s camp has campaigned on accountability for the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Adviser Lianne Pollack-David said an Eisenkot government’s first step would be to set up a state commission of inquiry.
What the polls say
Haaretz’s average of the final Channel 11, 12 and 13 polls, published last Friday and cited by Al Jazeera, gave Netanyahu’s bloc about 50 of the Knesset’s 120 seats and Eisenkot’s opposition bloc about 54. Neither reached the 61 needed for a majority. Parties must win at least 3.25% of the national vote to enter parliament, and about a dozen have a realistic chance.
What happens next
Exit polls air as soon as voting ends. The final tally is expected by Friday, and the official results will be published on November 4. President Isaac Herzog will then consult party leaders and task the candidate most likely to build a coalition, who has up to 42 days to do so. If talks fail, Netanyahu’s cabinet remains in place as a caretaker government, and a new election could follow.
Confirmed: voting hours, the eligible electorate, the early turnout figures and the CEC complaints. Pending: exit polls, the official count and coalition negotiations.
Sources
- Al Jazeera: Israel election results 2026, when will we know who won and what’s next?
- The Jewish Chronicle: Israel elections 2026 live
- Infobae: Netanyahu disputa una elección que puede terminar con su carrera política
- Al Jazeera: Israel’s election, five key things to know
Kcenia Sarapova · Europe, Asia & Middle East · Virtual editorial byline
Editorial direction: Leonidas Ferraz · October 27, 2026 · AI-assisted writing
