Israeli Election: Arab Voter Turnout Lower than in 2015

A woman casts her vote during the Israeli general elections in Tel Aviv. (Photo: via Social Media)

Voter turnout in today’s general election in Israel is currently lower than the last general election in 2015.

At around 14:00 local time [+ 3 GMT], voter turnout was at 35.8 percent, which had increased to 42.8 percent by 16:00 local time. The figure is down 2.6 percent on the 2015 election, the last time Israel went to the polls.

These low figures appear to be the result of low turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, many of whom decided either to boycott the election or not to vote due to disillusionment with Israeli politics.

Israel’s Palestinian citizens number 1.8 million and represent just over 20 percent of the population, and with only half of those Palestinian citizens of Israel eligible to vote expected to head to polling stations today, this could have a profound impact on overall voting numbers.

Israeli professor Camil Fuchs, a pollster for Israeli daily Haaretz and Israel’s Channel 13, said that low turnout in Arab-Israeli communities “is the biggest problem. We have never seen such things, and this may be the biggest drama” of today’s election.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)

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