The two main candidates for head of government in the israeli legislative elections, Yair Lapid and Benjamin Netanyahuhave already cast their votes and await the results of the elections expectantly.
Lapid, current acting prime minister, registered his vote at 8:00 local time (6:00 GMT) in Tel Aviv, where he asked the Israelis to vote “wisely”, thinking “of the future of our children”in the fifth elections called by the country in less than four years.
“Good morning, vote wisely. Vote for the State of Israel, for the future of our children and for our future in general,” Lapid told the media before casting his vote with his wife Lihi Lapid, at the Ramat Aviv Gimel school in Tel Aviv, near your family residence.
Lapid, for the party Yesh Atidis one of the main contenders with options to govern the country, against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of Likud that starts as a favorite, but neither of them has an easy time putting together a majority coalition that can form a government.
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For his part, Netanyahu cast his vote with his wife in Jerusalem and called on Israelis to vote for a “government that is not supported by terrorists” while he aspires to recover the position he already held for 15 years.
The opposition leader was referring to the coalition that Lapid managed to form in June of last year, for a “Government of change” – after twelve consecutive years of Netanyahu in power – which was supported by parties of the right, center, left and even a islamist arab formation, Raam.
Although there are no direct links between them, Netanyahu tried with these statements to link Raam, a moderate Islamist party born in 1996 in southern Israel, ideologically close to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, with Hamasan Islamist movement that de facto governs the Gaza Strip, considered terrorist by Israel, the US and the European Union, and also related to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“I am a bit worried, but with the help of the people who are listening to us, I hope that we will end the day with a victory. I hope you don’t give up your democratic rights,” Netanyahu said.
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Early in the morning, even before the opening of the polling stations at 7:00 local time (5:00 GMT), the current prime minister visited his father’s grave Tommy Lapida well-known Israeli journalist, playwright and minister, born in Serbia but sent to the Budapest ghetto by the Nazis, who killed his father in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
President also cast his vote early in Jerusalem. isaac herzogwho has the task of entrusting the most voted candidate with the formation of a government, supervising the process and controlling the electoral times required by law.
The president, who voted together with his wife, the first lady Michal Herzog, encouraged the 6.78 million Israelis summoned to the polls -among a population of 9.3 million- to “exercise their democratic right and go to vote”, because “voting makes a difference”.
“Israel is a true democracy. Millions of voters will go out today to vote and decide on the future and direction of our nation. This is a thriving democracy with a multitude of voices. We must always respect this enormous right that we have, since there are so many nations and billions of human beings who unfortunately do not enjoy this right,” the president stressed about the polarization that dominates Israel.
The electoral struggle is marked again in that appointment by the division of the political arc between the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu campwithout clear majorities for any, but the rise of the extreme right, the participation of the Arabs or the loss of support from the left can tip the balance to one side or the other.
“With your ballot, you can put Netanyahu in a full right-wing government,” declared extremist Itamar. Ben Gvirnumber two but the most popular figure within Religious Zionism, an openly racist, anti-Arab and homophobic party that aspires to be the third most voted force, and predictably Netanyahu’s main ally to return to power.
“These are the first elections in the history of the country in which it is decided between democracy and Kahanism,” he declared when voting Zehava Gallonleader of the leftist and pacifist Meretz, on the rise of figures such as Ben Gvir, a follower of the late radical rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kaj movement is considered terrorist in Israel and the US.
At 10:00 local time (8:00 GMT), shortly before Netanyahu voted and three hours after the opening of the polling stations, the participation was located in the 15.9%above 14.8% at that time in the last 2021 elections and the highest percentage since 1981.
In total, 1.76 million Israelis had voted out of the 6.78 million called to the polls in the country’s fifth election since 2019.
(With information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com