Live thread: Israelis vote for 20th Knesset (polls close at 4pm EDT)

i24 News ^ | live

[Dave346]

Polls scheduled to close 10pm local time / 4pm EDT.

Turnout as of 9am was 7.4%, at 10am was 13.7%, and at 12pm was 26.5%.

Exit polls will be released when polls close in less than 8 hours.

For live coverage in English, click on link below:

[blueyon]

Praying

[envisio]

Stay tuned....

[ExCTCitizen]

I am too...

[Wiz-Nerd]

Some 26% vote before noon; Likud ‘worried by high Arab turnout’

Grandfather of Likud MK Elkin dies outside voting booth; Netanyahu vows no unity government; Herzog says vote between ‘change and despair’

Live Blog http://www.timesofisrael.com/ballot-stations-open-as-israelis-choose-new-leadership/

Praying.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

BMK
Thanks for the Live Thread. :)

[hlmencken3]

Hearing from relatives and friends in Israel, there’s a feeling that Buji and Livni really screwed up by canceling their power sharing agreement at the last minute, and rising feeling that there will be a unity government.

[piasa]

Reporting that turnout may break records...

http://www.ibtimes.com/israeli-election-2015-turnout-numbers-may-break-records-1849400

[piasa]

Here’s Obama’s leftwing J-street buddies’ web site on the election:

http://www.israelelection2015.org/

[lysie]

Thanks.

[Wiz-Nerd]

36.7% of Israelis have voted as of 2:00 pm, the outlet revealed - 1.6% lower than the turnout as of 10:00 am during the 2013 elections.

11,000 votes have already been submitted to the Central Elections Committee (CEC) offices - the votes of IDF soldiers, who have had the privilege to vote since Saturday night.

Meanwhile, 71.2% of the 6,300 eligible voters in Israeli embassies abroad, including diplomats and their families, representatives of the Jewish Agency and other workers, have voted so far in the 20th Knesset elections as well, according to Walla! News.

This is a relatively high voter turnout in view of the bad weather on the East Coast in the United States.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/192753#.VQgkVpxIjZk

[ken5050]

I refuse to believe that a slim majority of Israelis are stupid enough to toss Bibi out on his tuchus..Of course, the Brits did that to Churchill after he led them to victory in WW II...

After Chamberlain's "peace in our time"..the Brits turned to Winston..but it took 6 years and about 80 million lives to defeat the Axis.

We've made progress since then..it'll take the Iranians 6 minutes to wipe out 8 million Jews..

[Rappini]

Thanks for the link.

[Rappini]

I’m praying Netanyahu wins then he can have a bust made of himself and send it to Barry Hussein Soetoro as a present from Israel.

[Dave346]

2pm turnout figure is 36.7% - slightly down from 2013.

Polls open most places from 7am to 10pm so that accounts for first 7 hours of voting. Smaller communities polls are open 8am to 8pm.

[novemberslady]

bkmk

[bayliving]

Bump for continued reading.

[Dave346]

07:26
Netanyahu and wife Sara vote in Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu votes early after polling stations opened, with his wife Sara alongside him.

Addressing the TV cameras immediately afterwards, Netanyahu says Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett will be the second person he calls after results are made public, to offer a “unity government,” a slip of the tongue as this expression is used to describe a coalition of parties from opposing sides of the spectrum. First on Netanyahu’s list is Miriam Peretz, an Israeli educator who lost two sons in the IDF and was offered a place on the Likud list (she refused).

Netanyahu immediately emphasizes that he means “unity of the national camp” and says emphatically “there will be no unity with Labor.”

The third person Netanyahu plans to call, should he win the election, is the president of the United States, he says.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/ballot-stations-open-as-israelis-choose-new-leadership/

[Dave346]

08:46
Voter turnout in embassies, consulates 71.2%

The Central Election Committee says the voter turnout in Israeli embassies and consulates stands at 71.2%.

Israeli diplomats and their families, Jewish Agency emissaries and Israeli local workers are all allowed to vote while outside the country.

[Dave346]

13:17

Likud issues an official statement expressing its “concern” over the high voter turnout in the Arab sector. Prime Minister Netanyahu uploaded a clip to Facebook where he says “the rule of the right is in danger. Arab voters are coming in droves to the ballot boxes. Left wing NGOs bring them in buses.”

Netanyahu continues: “We have no V15 movement, we have just a call to arms, and we only have you. Go out to the polling stations; bring your friends and family members. Vote Likud to close the gap between us and the Labor party.”