Overseas balloting at Israeli embassies and consulates concluded on Friday, with participation rates climbing noticeably compared to the previous national election. Absentee voting is not available under the country's electoral rules, with the sole carve-out covering accredited envoys, emissaries, and the family members who accompany them on assignment abroad.
According to figures released by the Central Elections Commission, voter turnout reached 86.7% — up from 69.6% at the previous election in 2022, a gap of 17.1 percentage points. According to the CEC, a 30-hour window of overseas balloting drew 4,218 Israeli voters across 101 polling stations spread through 99 embassies and consulates, with the process opening in New Zealand before wrapping up along the West Coast of the United States.
From that point, the votes are set to make their way to Israel, where they will be tallied as part of the national election scheduled for 27 October. How many voters actually show up on election day could ultimately shape the outcome of the nationwide contest.
Opposition supporters have organised a notable drive to help diaspora voters travel back to cast their ballots, while the governing coalition is contending with reports of waning enthusiasm and the prospect of reduced participation from certain parts of its electorate.
Among the world's democracies, only a small number bar overseas nationals from casting ballots in elections back home — a group that includes Israel, where the right to vote from abroad extends solely to embassy personnel, diplomatic staff, military attachés, and their immediate family members. Voting groups put the number of Israelis making the journey back to their home country to cast ballots at upwards of 50,000.
No fewer than 850 polling stations are scheduled for deployment at bases and outposts throughout the country — and at locations outside its borders — to allow armed forces personnel to cast early ballots in the coming week. Military personnel are scheduled to cast their ballots starting the evening of Tuesday, October 20, with polling access extended through October 27 — the date on which the broader electorate goes to the polls — citing operational needs as the basis for the earlier window.
For months leading up to the October 27 vote, survey data pointed toward a roughly even split between the blocs broadly aligned with and against the government. A Thursday poll from a prominent broadcast outlet showed Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party holding a measurable advantage over Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, though projections for both blocs fell short of the Knesset majority threshold.
Seat counts from the survey placed the grouping of parties led by Jewish figures in opposition to the prime minister at 54, against 49 for the bloc aligned with Netanyahu — with neither formation reaching the 61-seat threshold required for a governing majority in the 120-member Knesset. Projected tallies put Arab parties at 13 seats, with the nonaligned Reservists party set to take four.
Polling conducted the week before placed the grouping of parties opposing Netanyahu at 55 projected seats, with the coalition aligned behind him drawing 51. Thursday's survey data placed Yashar at 26 projected seats against 20 for Likud, a gap that stood out as the poll's most notable shift. Seven days earlier, the margin stood at 24 against 20.
