Polls for the 26th Knesset opened at 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Italian time). This is the first vote since the October 7 attack. The vote is being considered a sort of referendum on the performance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.
Approximately 7.3 million Israelis are called to vote today until 10 pm local time (9 pm in Italy).
There are 36 parties in the running, of which only 13 are counted in the polls because they surpass the 3.25% threshold. The most popular parties going into the election are Netanyahu's Likud (the longest-running in the country's history) and Yashar! ("Honest"), led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who is widely considered the favorite.
(Unioneonline)
