Israel
election live: Netanyahu’s bid to extend voting hours denied by central elections committee
Polls to
close at 10pm local time as latest figures show highest turnout on record in
pivotal Israeli election
A woman
waves an Israeli flag from a car window during Israel's general election in Tel
Aviv on Tuesday Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Lucy Campbell (now); Frances Mao, Yohannes Lowe and Jonathan Yerushalmy (earlier)
Tue 27 Oct
2026 19.03 GMT
From 32m
ago
Election
committee rejects Netanyahu bloc request to extend voting hours
The Central
Elections Committee decided not to extend voting hours beyond 10pm, rejecting a
request submitted by Netanyahu bloc parties, Haaretz is reporting.
Under
Israeli law, the current rules do allow for a voter to cast their vote past the
polling time, just as long they arrive at a station by 10pm.
Updated
at 18.45 GMT
The governor
of New York, home to the world’s largest urban Jewish community outside
of Israel, has said that her job would get “a lot easier” if Benjamin
Netanyahu loses this election.
In an interview
with Politico, Kathy Hochul said:
I
represent the largest [urban] Jewish population in the world outside of Israel.
And I know they’re suffering. A lot of people are anxious about antisemitism,
which is sky-high right now …
I went to
Israel right after October 7. I saw a lot of pain there. But I actually
cautioned the government there, in private conversations, not to overreach.
The world
is with you when it comes to the brutal assault by … Hamas on innocent Israeli
people. An overreach could change that dynamic, and that’s what’s happened.
We
have to have leadership there that understands the security of Israel is
paramount - critically important to me, but also the world - but to have a safe
Palestinian state as well, which has been talked about my entire life.
I still
believe that this can happen. I believe we have to get people of goodwill who
can make this happen, and as long as Netanyahu is sitting there, that is not
in his interest to do that. It’s just not, and it won’t happen.
Voter
turnout by 6pm is highest on record
Voter
turnout as of 6pm local time reached 66.7%, the highest ever by that
hour since voting hours were first recorded, the Central Elections Committee
said.
That is a 9%
increase from the 2022 election at that time and Israel’s highest recorded
turnout by 6pm.
Updated
at 18.43 GMT
Election
committee rejects Netanyahu bloc request to extend voting hours
The Central
Elections Committee decided not to extend voting hours beyond 10pm, rejecting a
request submitted by Netanyahu bloc parties, Haaretz is reporting.
Under
Israeli law, the current rules do allow for a voter to cast their vote past the
polling time, just as long they arrive at a station by 10pm.
Updated
at 18.45 GMT
As we’ve
been reporting, a record number of Israelis cast their ballots in the first
half of polling day, voting at polling stations across the country and in
the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
By 2pm
local time (it is now after 8pm), 44.9% of voters had cast their ballot – the highest turnout since
record-keeping began in the 1970s.
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