Israel Rejects Likud Party Request to Extend Voting Hours
ISTANBUL, October 27, 2026: Israel’s Central Elections Committee has rejected a request from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party to keep polling stations open beyond the scheduled closing time of 10 pm on Tuesday.
According to an official statement, the committee’s presidium decided that voting would end at the designated time. However, voters who had joined queues before the deadline would still be permitted to cast their ballots after 10 pm.
Likud had requested an extension of voting hours, while the Otzma Yehudit party sought to join the petition, pointing to overcrowded polling stations and unusually long waiting times.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party strongly opposed the proposal, arguing that there were no exceptional circumstances to justify extending the deadline. It also accused Likud of attempting to prepare the ground for questioning the election’s credibility, criticizing what it described as statements made by Netanyahu throughout the day.
Meanwhile, voter participation in Israel’s closely contested parliamentary elections reached 66.7% by 6 pm local time, according to the Central Elections Committee. This represented the highest turnout recorded by that hour since 1973.
More than 7.3 million eligible voters were registered to participate in the election, which will determine the composition of Israel’s 120-member Knesset. Polling stations opened at 7 am local time.
The election is Israel’s first general election since the war in the Gaza Strip began in October 2023, making the vote a significant political event amid the ongoing regional conflict.
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