Transfer from @ Hayom X has arrived Who will the Israelis choose? In the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, many have been waiting for these elections for one reason: Will they finally succeed in ousting Benjamin Netanyahu, who has held the prime minister's chair on and off for close to twenty years? The Israelis began to answer this question today. The polling stations in Israel have opened and millions of citizens can now start voting in the 26th parliament (Knesset). The entire voting process will continue until 10:00 p.m., after which media outlets in Israel will publish the first exit polls. As usual, a clearer picture will emerge by Wednesday morning, when the count will continue until Thursday. Traditionally there are many contenders for 120 seats, but the real battle is developing between the ruling camps and the opposition with the indirect involvement of the Arab Israeli parties in the calculations. What political forces are at work? For now the favorite of the race is champion Gadi Eisenkot's new party, "Straight! ", with about 22 mandates (18-19%) according to the latest polls in Israel, and is the opposition's main candidate for prime minister. Binyamin Netanyahu's "Likud" ruling risks second place, despite the legal proceedings and the same parties refused to acknowledge responsibility for the October 7 failure. In third place, according to preliminary polls, comes the "Together" bloc, an alliance of the right-wing Naftali Bennett and the centrist Yair Lapid, who have already ousted Netanyahu for a year in 2021-2022. Yair Golan's left-Israeli "Democrats" have about 10 mandates and Avigdor Lieberman's "Russian Right" NDI about 8. The extreme right "Religious Zionism" of Bezalel Smotrich and "Otzma Yehudit" of Itamar Ben Gabir occupy about 6-8 mandates according to polls and remain the mainstay of the current prime minister, demanding to expand the settlements and annex the West Bank.

Transfer from @ Hayom X has arrived Who will the Israelis choose? In the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, many have been waiting for these elections for one reason: Will they finally succeed in ousting Benjamin Netanyahu, who has held the prime minister's chair on and off for close to twenty years? The Israelis began to answer this question today. The polling stations in Israel have opened and millions of citizens can now start voting in the 26th parliament (Knesset). The entire voting process will continue until 10:00 p.m., after which media outlets in Israel will publish the first exit polls. As usual, a clearer picture will emerge by Wednesday morning, when the count will continue until Thursday. Traditionally there are many contenders for 120 seats, but the real battle is developing between the ruling camps and the opposition with the indirect involvement of the Arab Israeli parties in the calculations. What political forces are at work? For now the favorite of the race is champion Gadi Eisenkot's new party, "Straight! ", with about 22 mandates (18-19%) according to the latest polls in Israel, and is the opposition's main candidate for prime minister. Binyamin Netanyahu's "Likud" ruling risks second place, despite the legal proceedings and the same parties refused to acknowledge responsibility for the October 7 failure. In third place, according to preliminary polls, comes the "Together" bloc, an alliance of the right-wing Naftali Bennett and the centrist Yair Lapid, who have already ousted Netanyahu for a year in 2021-2022. Yair Golan's left-Israeli "Democrats" have about 10 mandates and Avigdor Lieberman's "Russian Right" NDI about 8. The extreme right "Religious Zionism" of Bezalel Smotrich and "Otzma Yehudit" of Itamar Ben Gabir occupy about 6-8 mandates according to polls and remain the mainstay of the current prime minister, demanding to expand the settlements and annex the West Bank.