7, 2023, attack on Israel and the wars that have since shaken the Middle East. Israelis were voting Tuesday in a tense national election widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership since the Hamas-led Oct.
No single party has ever won a 61-seat majority in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset. Israelis vote for parties , which then form alliances to create a majority coalition.
7 and the failure to turn battlefield victories into diplomatic achievements. Opinion polls suggest a tight race, with no clear winner expected, setting the stage for weeks or even months of negotiations among around a dozen parties expected to win seats in the Knesset. A victory would cement his image as the ultimate political survivor. 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. Netanyahu has been a master at forming coalitions with religious and nationalist partners. The deadliest day in Israel’s history has featured prominently in the campaign , but there has been almost no debate over Israel’s wartime conduct in Gaza , which led to an international arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
But opinion polls now suggest a tight race between his bloc and the one led by his chief rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot , which says Netanyahu should be held accountable for Oct.
Earlier this month, U.S. Polls open across Israel in a tense election As polls were starting to open on Tuesday, thousands of volunteer Israeli election observers were in place at polling stations across the country to monitor the election.
