Israelis Go to the Polls for the Fifth Time in 4 Years

'I hope that today we will finish with this and that there will be some kind of stability'

An Israeli man casts his ballot on the day of Israel's general election in a polling station in Rahat, Israel, on Nov. 1, 2022. Amir Cohen/Reuters

HAIFA, Israel—On Nov. 1, Israel holds its unprecedented fifth election in less than four years.

Recent elections have produced a deadlock between Benjamin Netanyahu—head of the Likud Party—and a number of opposing parties, with neither side able to hold a majority since 2019.

The Knesset (Israeli parliament) elections are supposed to be held every four years. There are 120 seats, so a party needs to hold 61 seats in order to have a majority.

The elections determine the prime minister and the party that will lead the government.

The president serves a term of seven years and the president is elected by a secret ballot of the Knesset. Israeli President Isaac Herzog began his term in July 2021.

Timeline of Election Deadlock

Since 2019, Israel has had four elections that led to two short-lived coalition governments and just one state budget. In the other two elections, the parties that held the largest blocks of seats were unable to form a coalition that met the required number of seats to hold a majority.

On election day April 9, 2019, Netanyahu won a minority and struggled to put together a coalition and failed. Rather than allow his principal rival, former armed forces chief Benjamin Gantz, a chance to form a government, Netanyahu triggered another election in an unprecedented political move.

On election day Sept. 17, 2019, Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White Party ended in a virtual tie, and for weeks neither succeeded in putting together a government, resulting in a third election.

On election day March 2, 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Israelis went to the polls once again but the deadlock continued. Gantz agreed to join an “emergency unity government” with Netanyahu. Before the year finished, the unity government began to fall apart over a budget dispute, and when Netanyahu backtracked on a power-sharing deal with Gantz a fourth election was called.

On election day March 23, 2021, a fourth election was held and the deadlock continued. After weeks of negotiations, Netanyahu failed to put a government together. Rival Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid party, got a chance to try to form a government, and he succeeded with a frail coalition that included an Arab party. It was the first time an Arab party joined the governing coalition as a formal member.

‘I’m Fed Up’

On election day Nov. 1, Netanyahu leads a bloc of conservative and religious parties against Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who is leading a more fragmented camp of parties.

A total of 40 parties submitted their candidacies to the Central Election Committee for the current election.

Voters hope to break the deadlock between Netanyahu and his rivals.

“It’s exhausting. I hope this is the last time for the next four years. Let us have quiet,” Rachel Abrahamov, a 73-year-old pensioner retired from the Ministry of Education, told The Epoch Times on Nov. 1 at one of the polls in Haifa, Israel.

“I’m fed up. It’s time for a broad, united government … for at least the next four years,” Tomer Kaplan, a sales manager told The Epoch Times after coming out of the poll.

“The fifth time is tough, but I see that there is a very, very large movement of people here who have come to make a difference, it’s important for the people, and I really hope it will be good,” Niva Alkoubi told The Epoch Times after casting her vote.

“It’s a difficult feeling, but I hope that today we will finish with this and that there will be some kind of stability in the country,” Bat Sheva Hillel, manager of a law firm, told The Epoch Times on her way into the poll.

Tomer Kaplan voted in the fifth Israeli election in four years, in Haifa, Israel, on Nov. 1, 2022. David Tompkins/ The Epoch Times

Either a Government or a Sixth Election

Results of the election should be published by the end of the week but only on Nov. 9 will the official results be submitted to the president by Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Judge Yitzhak Amit.

After the winner of the election is decided, long coalition talks will likely begin that will either form a government or lead to a sixth election.

According to an update of the Central Election Committee: as of 4 p.m. local time, 47.5 percent of eligible voters (3,224,350 people) had cast their vote.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and most polls will close at 10 p.m.

Every Israeli citizen who turns 18 on election day is entitled to vote. Across the country 6,788,804 people are eligible.

Each voter needs to show their ID at the poll in order to vote.

The votes at the polls are hand counted, and there are no election machines at the polls.

Recent election polls have shown neither camp winning an outright majority, an outcome that could leave Israel facing many more months of political uncertainty and a possible sixth election.

Reuters contributed to this report.