Israel: Netanyahu warns of election theft, record turnout
Israelis voted Tuesday with turnout the highest since 1973, as Netanyahu warned of an attempt to steal the election after Ra'am party officials were arrested with cash-filled envelopes.
Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, for the first Knesset election held since the 7 October 2023 attack and since the war in Gaza and the escalation with Lebanon and Iran. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading his right-wing coalition, faces an opposition bloc led by former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, head of the recently founded Yashar party.
Yashar, which Eisenkot founded in September 2025 after splitting from Benny Gantz, has emerged as one of the most prominent new forces in Israeli politics, with several polls showing it running neck-and-neck with, or even ahead of, Likud.
According to Central Elections Committee figures, turnout reached 31.5% in the first five hours of voting, then rose to 44.9% by midday GMT — the highest level recorded at that point since the committee began tracking the data in 1973 — before climbing to 55.7% by 4 p.m.
Amid the high turnout, Netanyahu's Likud party formally asked the Elections Committee to extend voting hours in order to mobilise more voters, while Eisenkot's Yashar party opposed the extension.
After casting his vote in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said he was concerned about high turnout among Arab voters, warning of an attempt to "steal the elections" — a warning that came just days after his threat to close off the West Bank, and after the announcement that three officials from the Ra'am party had been arrested carrying cash-filled envelopes.
Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas responded to Netanyahu's accusations, calling them "lies and incitement," while Eisenkot said the prime minister was "already laying the groundwork to dispute the results" should he lose, calling on voters to remove what he described as the "worst government" in the country's history.
The election is taking place as the war in Gaza continues alongside the escalation with Lebanon and Iran, making accountability for the 7 October 2023 attack and Netanyahu's handling of security one of the campaign's central issues, with the outcome set to determine the fate of the right-wing coalition government he has led for years.