Israel's national election sees highest voter turnout in 50 years, 55.7 percent by 4 p.m.

Voter turnout in Israel's national election on Tuesday reached its highest level in 50 years. According to the Central Elections Committee, participation is the highest since these statistics began being kept in 1973.

The committee said 55.7 percent of voters had cast their ballots by 4 p.m. local time. At the same point in the 2022 election the figure was 47.5 percent, meaning turnout this time is considerably higher at the same stage.

According to the committee, Israel has around 7.3 million voters, and 4,085,075 of them had voted by 4 p.m. Polling was scheduled to close at 10 p.m. local time.

The high turnout has created a risk for the smaller parties contesting the Knesset election. A party must win 3.25 percent of the total vote to pass the electoral threshold and enter parliament; as overall turnout rises, the number of votes needed to cross that threshold rises too.

Arab voter participation is also expected to rise significantly this time. In the 2022 election, turnout in that community was slightly above 50 percent; pollsters estimate it could reach as high as 70 percent this time.

That increase could also matter in the arithmetic of forming a government, because neither incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main rival Gadi Eisenkot is assured of the majority needed to form the next government.

In that situation, the support of two Arab-majority parties could play a decisive role: Ra'am, led by Mansour Abbas, and the Joint List, led by Yousef Jabareen. The main parties, however, have ruled out forming a direct coalition.