ISRAEL will hold parliamentary elections on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking to retain power amid debate over the Government’s handling of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the subsequent wars and its domestic and foreign policies. The election is widely seen as a test of Netanyahu’s leadership, as Opposition leaders, including former military chief Gadi Eisenkot and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, seek to challenge his Right-wing coalition.

 

Opinion polls indicate neither bloc is assured of the parliamentary majority needed to form a Government. Israel, roughly the size of northeastern India’s Mizoram State,uses a nationwide proportional representation system, with the entire country serving as a single electoral constituency to elect the 120 members of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. Voters do not elect individual Members Of  Parliament. Instead, they vote for closed party lists. This system allows numerous political parties to compete for seats in the legislature. To enter the Knesset, a party must cross the3.25 percent electoral threshold, are quirement that often prompts pre-election alliances and mergers.