Highest half-day voter turnout on record marks key Israel election

Turnout in Tuesday's Israeli election, seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was at the highest level on record at the midway point, the Central Elections Commission said.

As of 2 p.m. (1200 GMT), 3.29 million Israelis, or 44.9% of eligible voters, had cast a ballot, the highest turnout since the commission started recording such statistics in 1973, its head Dean Livne said.

"We have broken all records registered by the Elections Committee since 1973," Livneh said. "There has been no such data."

Earlier, the Elections Committee said a total of 2.39 million Israelis had cast their ballots by noon local time (10 a.m. GMT), an increase of more than 3 percentage points compared with the previous election.

Extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attributed the high turnout to exceptionally strong participation among Arab voters and in left-wing strongholds.

More than 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote in Tuesday's elections to choose members of the 120-seat Knesset.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and are scheduled to close at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT).

The elections are Israel's first general polls since the start of its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.