Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power is facing a decisive test after polling stations closed in Israel’s closely watched election.
Surveys released on Friday, before voters went to the polls, placed the 77-year-old prime minister and his leading challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, almost level. Netanyahu has led the country for the past four years.
The vote has become a broad judgment on Netanyahu’s leadership since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, along with his handling of the wars that have continued to reshape the Middle East.
Turnout reached 74 per cent on Tuesday, the highest figure recorded since 1974. That year, Israelis went to the polls after the Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria.
Netanyahu spent election day pressing supporters to cast their ballots, describing the contest as an “emergency” and insisting it was a “matter of life and death”.
Likud officials asked for voting to continue past the 10pm deadline, or 8pm GMT, but the committee overseeing the process rejected the request. It said “the current circumstances do not justify an extension”.
Israeli voters choose parties rather than a directly elected prime minister. Those parties must then negotiate alliances to build a governing coalition, as no party has ever secured the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-member Knesset.
With opinion polls showing an exceptionally tight contest and no obvious victor, Israel could face weeks or months of coalition bargaining involving roughly a dozen parties expected to enter parliament.
The tension was evident across the country. One voter in Jerusalem told Our News Outlet: “This is critical, and it’s been as critical.”
She said she had travelled from Kibbutz Nirim, which was attacked during the October 7 assault.
In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near Israel’s border with Lebanon, one man tore down and kicked a campaign poster featuring the prime minister’s main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot.
Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv, relatives of people killed in the 2023 Hamas-led attack joined families of former hostages for a moment of silence.
“Remember all those whose voices are no more,” said Yona Adam, whose daughter, Mapal Adam, was killed.
At a Jerusalem school converted into a polling station, voters described sharply different motivations. Some said they wanted a new direction, while others believed only Netanyahu could keep Israel safe.
“He’s not responsible for October 7,” said Nisim Cohen, a reservist.
Cohen said he hoped Netanyahu would win and continue the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and with Iran until Israelis felt secure enough to sleep peacefully.
Zipporah Bennett, an 85-year-old retiree, also backed Netanyahu, saying his experience had helped him guide Israel through “a lot of difficult seasons”. She praised his relationship with the United States and added: “He’s a man who’s not afraid to take action.”
Alexandra, a 65-year-old Jerusalem voter, offered the opposite view. “I want change in our country. I want a good democratic centrist government,” she said.
Around 7.3 million Israelis were eligible to vote, including hundreds of thousands of young people casting ballots for the first time. Polling suggests most of these new voters identify with the centre-Right or Right wing.
Tens of thousands of Israelis are also believed to have returned from overseas to participate in an election that could determine the country’s political direction and future character.
Turnout in the first three hours of the election was the highest at that stage since 1981, with the Central Elections Committee giving a figure of 16.68 percent.
‘I think this is one of the most important election days in the history of the state of Israel,’ Uriel Brandler, a 58-year-old real estate agent, said from Jerusalem the day before the vote, saying he hoped for change.
Netanyahu, who was seen casting his vote in Jerusalem, called on Israelis to vote ‘the right way’ on Tuesday.
Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s top rival, was up and meeting voters as polls opened in Ofakim, one of the communities in southern Israel that was attacked by Hamas-led militants on October 7. Eisenkot lost his son and two nephews to combat in Gaza.
The visit was likely aimed at reminding voters of the security failures ahead of the deadliest militant attack on Israel in its history, and of Netanyahu’s refusal of a state commission of inquiry into them.
Meanwhile, wearing his trademark noose-shaped lapel pin, hard-Right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir cast his ballot in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, where his supporters had set up banners and speakers
Thousands of volunteer Israeli election observers were in place at polling stations across the country to monitor the election.
Eyal Sher said he volunteered with a civil society group called Elections Guards because he wanted to play a role in such a critical vote.
‘We have a corrupt government that will do anything to stay in power,’ he said. ‘Every vote counts and we want to make sure the procedures are kept intact.’
According to Israel’s Central Election Committee, more than 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote, including around 330,000 young Israelis who spent their high school years in the shadow of war.
The polling stations – around 12,000 of them – will close in most places at 10 pm. Ballots are manually counted at each polling station immediately after voting ends.
Netanyahu has been Israel’s most dominant politician for nearly two decades, and a poor showing could end the 77-year-old’s lengthy career on a bitter note and open the door to a new era in Israeli politics.
A victory would cement his image as the ultimate political survivor. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump backed Netanyahu’s reelection, but the late endorsement still marked a setback for the Likud politician who had billed his tight ties to the Republican president as a selling point for staying in power.
