Israel's Central Elections Committee rejects Likud bid to extend voting hours

Likud asks for longer voting

On Tuesday, 27 October, the Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Central Elections Committee to keep polling stations open longer during Israel's parliamentary election. Likud is the governing party, and it cited long queues and rainy weather in its request. The party also used Telegram to urge supporters to vote for Likud alone. The ballot is the first parliamentary election in Israel since the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

In its Telegram post, the party said:

“We have submitted a request to extend the time for casting votes.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that the ultra-Orthodox Shas party and Otzma Yehudit, the far-right party of Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined the call for an extra hour. Shas leader Arye Deri pointed to long lines in Bedouin communities in the Negev and in Tel Aviv. He also voiced concern about turnout in ultra-Orthodox and right-wing strongholds.

Commission turns down the extension

The Central Elections Committee rejected the request. It said it had found no need to keep voting going beyond 22:00 local time, or 21:00 CET. In a statement on Tuesday, the commission said high turnout across all parts of society reflected strong democratic engagement. Acting commission head Dean Livne had already said voters still in line after 22:00 may cast their ballots, according to the Times of Israel. Only the commission's chair, Judge Noam Sohlberg, can decide on a general extension of voting time. Polling stations are therefore set to close at the regular time.

Opposition and turnout

Yashar, the centre-right opposition party led by Gadi Eisenkot, opposed the request firmly. Its response was direct:

“No extraordinary incident has occurred that would justify granting this request.”

Yashar accused Likud of trying to lay the groundwork for doubts about the integrity of the vote. Turnout stood at 44.9% at 14:00 local time, the midpoint of election day. By 18:00 local time, the commission put turnout at 66.7% of eligible voters, the highest level at that hour since records began in 1973.

14:00 local time44.9%

18:00 local time66.7%

14:00 local time

44.9 %

18:00 local time

66.7 %

Data from the article text

What comes next

Polling stations close at 22:00 local time, and first projections are expected after that. The race is expected to be neck and neck between Netanyahu's right-wing camp and the opposition bloc around Eisenkot. The vote is billed as a choice of direction for a deeply divided country and as a referendum on Netanyahu. The turnout figures reported so far are interim ones from 14:00 and 18:00 local time, and no final count has been reported yet.