Israeli voter turnout hits 53-year high as Netanyahu fights to stay in power

Voter turnout in Israel’s election on Tuesday hit a 53-year high as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already the longest-serving leader in the country’s history, fights to hold on to power as he faces opposition over his handling of the wars in Gaza and Iran.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee said voter turnout was at 55.7 percent at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. EST), having reached 47.5 percent by that time during the 2022 election.

“There hasn’t been such a nationwide voter turnout since 1973,” Acting director general of the Central Elections Committee Dean Livne told The Times of Israel , later saying that more than 4 million people have cast their ballots.

Livne said the city with the highest turnout so far was Modiin, at 60.7 percent, followed by Tel Aviv at 50.5 percent and Jerusalem at 47.7 percent.

Ofer Kenig, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute told CNN that based on the early results, election officials have seen an increase “in all sectors” except in the “ultra-orthodox cities, [where] we see a decrease in voter turnout.”

“In other segments of the Israeli society, we see an increase,” Kenig said. “Very, very cautiously we can see a higher increase in liberal strongholds rather than the Netanyahu coalition strongholds.”

Kenig noted that some groups may choose to go vote later in the day. Polls close at 10 p.m. local time, likely leading to a tight outcome between Netanyahu and former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, the opposition leader.

Eisenkot, while casting his ballot in Herzliya, urged “all Israelis to go vote and stick to the mission of replacing the worst government since the state’s founding,” CNN reported.

“I suggest not to get excited by Netanyahu’s scare tactics,” he said outside the polling station, according to the outlet.

Netanyahu cast his ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem, calling Tuesday’s election a “very moving and fateful moment.”

The prime minister’s political future hangs in the balance amid growing frustration over his handling of the Iran war and response to the Hamas-led terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which he was reportedly warned about in the days before the attack. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu in 2024, accusing the prime minister of war crimes for his military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu has also faced accusations of corruption amid a years-long bribery case that has gone to trial, one in which his request for a presidential pardon was denied.

The prime minister has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the corruption trial and the war crime accusations, and has defended Israel’s actions in Gaza as having “prevented genocide.”

Netanyahu received President Trump’s endorsement , who praised the prime minister’s leadership during the eight-month-long Iran war.

“Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. “Despite all of that, he has endured and, in fact, he has thrived!”