More than seven million people eligible to vote in Israeli local parliament elections
Jerusalem:
Israelis voted on Tuesday in twice-delayed municipal elections that could provide a gauge of public sentiment nearly five months into Gaza’s war against Hamas.
Soldiers have cast their votes at special polling stations set up in military camps in Gaza over the past week as fighting raged.
Voting opens at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and ends at 10:00 pm (2000 GMT).
More than seven million people are eligible to vote in local council elections in most of Israel, Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem and parts of the annexed Golan Heights.
The vote, originally scheduled for October 31, has been postponed to November 2024 in towns and villages bordering the besieged Gaza Strip or Lebanon. Hamas ally Hezbollah has fired rockets into Israel almost daily since the war in Gaza began.
Nearly 150,000 Israelis have been displaced by hostilities in these areas.
Amit Peretz, 32, a candidate for Jerusalem’s city council, said Jerusalem’s diverse makeup requires “all voices in the city to be heard in order for everything to run smoothly because it is very complex.” .
Gita Koppel, an 87-year-old Jerusalem resident, said she voted because it was “the only way for people to have their voices heard.”
“I want the right people to come in and do the right thing for Jerusalem,” she said.
Elections postponed after Hamas attack
Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,160 people, most of them civilians, and leading to the postponement of elections, according to AFP statistics based on official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 29,878 people in Gaza, the majority of whom were women and minors, according to the Health Ministry of the Hamas-controlled region.
Two candidates for the leadership of the Gaza border region’s parliament were killed in an attack on 7 October: Ofir Libstein of Kfar Azza and Tamar Kedem Siman Tov. Tamar Kedem Siman Tov), who was shot dead with her husband and three young children in their home in Neal Oz.
In Jerusalem and other major cities, far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish candidates aligned with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political allies are competing against government critics and more moderate candidates.
Netanyahu faces public pressure
Netanyahu has faced growing public pressure over the fate of hostages still held in Gaza and a resurgent anti-government protest movement.
Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv’s mayor for 25 years, is seeking re-election against former Economy Minister Orna Barbivai, who could become the first woman to hold the position.
Lawyer Amir Badran, an Arab candidate who initially announced he would run for mayor of Tel Aviv, dropped out of the race before election day but is still vying for a city council seat.
In Jerusalem, another Arab candidate, Sondos Alhoot, is running to lead a joint Jewish-Arab party. If elected, she would be the first Arab woman to serve on the city council since 1967.
Elections to municipal and regional councils are largely seen as local matters, although some contests can serve as springboards for politicians with national ambitions.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, who briefly served as prime minister before Netanyahu returns to power in late 2022, said Tuesday’s vote showed there would be “no problem” holding elections even during the war.
In a post on social media platform X, Lapid called for parliamentary elections to be held “as soon as possible” to replace Netanyahu.
Voter turnout in the last local elections in 2018 was 59.5%, lower than in Israel’s five parliamentary elections since 2019.
Most Palestinians in East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and later annexed, have the right to vote in municipal elections but not in parliamentary elections.
Palestinian residents make up about 40% of the city’s population, but many of them boycotted past elections.
The first results are expected later Tuesday. If necessary, a second-round runoff will be held on March 10.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
