40 Parties Run for in Fifth Israeli Elections Today in Less than 4 Years

Millions of Israelis go to the polls today (Tuesday) to select 120 members of the Knesset.

About 40 parties are competing in today's elections, and candidates are seeking the confidence of about 7 million voters, after failing in 4 previous elections within 3 and a half years.

Today's elections are being held in a last-ditch attempt for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to win power, while the campaign of Prime Minister Yair Lapid is betting on heading to another election.

Netanyahu seeks to win Arab votes.  Arab parties appeal to Jews to vote for them.

However, the result of today's elections will be affected by the vote of the Arab-Israeli citizens behind the Green Line.

The Arabs are able to decide the battle in favor of one of the leading parties, but more than half of the Arabs declare that they will abstain from voting.

Polling stations opened their doors across Israel at seven in the morning, and voting will continue until ten in the evening.

The police will deploy 18,000 of its members to more than 12,000 polling stations to maintain the conduct of the elections.

The final results of the Knesset elections will be announced next Wednesday.