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Israel will hold local elections on Tuesday, the first time voters have returned to the polls since the October 7 Hamas-led offensive and the war in Gaza reshaped Israeli society and put security at the top of the national agenda. It’s my first time going there.
People across the country are electing local and regional officials in charge of issues such as education, garbage disposal and park cleaning in a vote postponed from October 31 because of the war. Results are expected to take several days as absentee ballots must be counted.
According to the Interior Ministry’s Election Information Center, 2.2 million votes had been cast as of 5pm local time, with turnout of just over 31%. That’s 9 percentage points lower than turnout at that time in the previous similar election in 2018, according to news site Ynet.
The election is not a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who polls suggest is historically unpopular, said Ariel Finkelstein, a researcher at the Jerusalem Institute. More candidates than in previous elections are choosing not to advertise their ties to the prime minister’s Likud party, he said. This could be a sign that his support is decreasing.
“The number one concern for Israelis today is personal safety,” Finkelstein said. Although responsibility for security lies with the central government, candidates have responded to the national situation by campaigning on security issues, he said.
The focus on security is a marked change from before the war, when Israel was in a political and legal crisis over Mr. Netanyahu’s plans to reform the judicial system in a way that weakened the Supreme Court.
Finkelstein said many of the leaders of the protest movement that fought the overhaul were planning to run in local elections. He estimates these candidates are still running in about 20 of the 242 municipalities holding elections on Tuesday, but said the issues have changed.
Protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have recently gained momentum after a lull in large-scale demonstrations since October 7. In a poll conducted in late January by the Israel Democracy Institute, a majority of respondents said they wanted national elections to be held early. Approximately 3 years after the scheduled date.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed the idea of holding national elections during the war. Ben Dror Yemini, a columnist for the Israeli daily Yedioth Aronos, wrote on Tuesday that the local elections showed there was no need to wait for a national vote to be held.
A further reminder of the changes since October 7 is that voting is not scheduled until November in parts of the country close to Lebanon’s borders with Gaza. Most people living near Gaza have not returned to their homes since the attack, and areas near Lebanon continue to be displaced as cross-border conflict with the militant group Hezbollah intensifies.
Jonathan Rees Contributed to the report.
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