Israel set for 4th election in 2 yrs

Tel Aviv, March 23 Israelis will vote in a fourth election in two years on Tuesday, which many fear will once again lead to a rickety governing coalition, if one can be formed at all.

The fundamental choice for voters will be between blocs that back long-standing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those that seek to oust him, reports dpa news agency.

Polls predict that Netanyahu's right-wing Likud will emerge again as the biggest party in Israel's Knesset.

But they also indicate the 71-year-old will face great difficulty in building a functioning coalition that can command at least 61 lawmakers in the 120-seat legislature.

Tuesday's election comes just a fortnight ahead of the start on April 5 of the evidence phase of Netanyahu's corruption trial.

When voters headed to the polls in March 2020, the fact that the trial was set to start in May did not stop them from returning Netanyahu to power at the head of the country's largest party.

Netanyahu hopes that Israel's successful vaccination campaign under his leadership, as well as the historic US-brokered normalisation deals he signed in September 2020 with Gulf states, will boost his chances in this fourth round.

Some 6.6 million of Israel's 9.3 million citizens are eligible to vote at nearly 13,700 polling stations.

Drones will be deployed to monitor about 751 ballots designated for people on Covid-19 quarantine, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement by the Central Elections Committee chief Orly Ades.

Some 38 polling stations have been installed for patients in coronavirus units inside hospitals.

Four ballots will be operated at the Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv to enable returning Israelis to vote after two-month-long restrictions on entering the country was lifted earlier this week.

In March 2020, voting turnout was 71.3 per cent.

( With inputs from IANS )