Israel Holds Fourth Legislative Election in Two years Today

On Tuesday morning, Israel opened polling stations for voters to cast their votes in the 24th Knesset (the legislative body in the Hebrew state) elections, at 7:10 am this morning local time, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation "Makan".

The corporation indicated that the voting will continue until 10 p.m.

Security agencies in Israel intensified measures of protection across the country to guarantee peaceful voting.

Israel Police deployed thousands of cops, some of them in plain clothes, to various parts of the country,   in order to ensure the conduct of the electoral process for the Knesset.

The main roads were also secured in addition to random checks for the Coronavirus will be conducted for voters with the aim of monitoring patients or people who are bound by quarantine.

For its part, the Israeli Police stressed that it would deal firmly with any attempt to breach public peace or disrupting the conduct of the elections and that it would confront any act of incitement or fraud.

Regarding the "electoral battle" that Israel is witnessing, 39 lists are running in the elections and those with the right to vote amount to 6 million 578 thousand and 84 people.

The Central Bureau of Statistics data indicated that the percentage of Jewish citizens who are entitled to vote is 78%, and Arabs 17%, while up to the number of polling stations distributed across the country reached 16,685 centers.

The Central Election Commission had announced the opening of all ballot boxes on time, without any defects occurring in all ballot boxes.

These elections are taking place as a result of the ongoing political stalemate over the past two years.

A complicated political dispute between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents led to thwarting efforts to form a government over the past two years.

However, opinion polls published in recent days before today's vote predicted a sharp race between the two main blocs: those who support Netanyahu as the next prime minister, and those who oppose him, according to the Associated Press.