[h=3]By JOSHUA MITNICK[/h]TEL AVIV—Israelis began voting for a new parliament on Tuesday, in an election widely expected to return Benjamin Netanyahu to a third term as prime minister along with a legislature that increasingly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Getty ImagesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his ballot at a polling station on election day on Tuesday in Jerusalem.
Despite the expected victory for the prime minister, polls have shown that Mr. Netanyahu's campaign is limping to the finish line amid dropping support that could very likely leave him a weakened prime minister in a more fragile coalition than he currently heads.
The results will determine in part whether Mr. Netanyahu forms a far-right coalition with strong misgivings about peace talks, or joins in an alliance with centrist parties that will support continued diplomatic efforts to renew negotiations with the Palestinians.
Amid unseasonably warm temperatures, turnout during the first five hours of voting was 26.7 percent, higher than the previous election in 2009, Israel Radio reported. Polls are expected to close at 10 p.m. local time, when television news programs will report exit polls.
Higher vote turnout would be a surprise following a campaign that Israeli analysts are calling one of the most lackluster in recent memory. Some of the most pivotal national issues of the day—peace talks with the Palestinians, Iran and the Arab spring—have had little airing.
Mr. Netanyahu voted in Jerusalem soon after the opening of the polling stations at 7 a.m., and expressed hope for a "rain'" of ballot slips for the merged candidate slate shared by his center-right Likud party and Yisrael Beiteinu, the ultra-nationalist party of former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Later in the morning he visited the Western Wall holy site in Jerusalem.
Although Mr. Netanyahu is grappling with increased international isolation, strained ties with U.S. President Barack Obama and a looming fiscal austerity plan, the Israeli prime minister has faced little competition from a fractured opposition that lacks a formidable rival candidate for the post.
Polls have unanimously shown that Mr. Netanyahu and his outgoing coalition partners of right-wing and religious parties will control a majority bloc in the 120-member Knesset.
While the absence of a strong challenger on the center-left has sapped excitement about the vote, and Mr. Netanyahu has struggled with robust campaigns from parties to the right of Likud, such as the pro-settler Jewish Home, which have siphoned off support. Polls have indicated that the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu combined candidate slate could drop from 42 seats in the Knesset to the low 30s.
His closest challenger, the center-left Labor Party and its chairwoman, Shelly Yachimovich, has been polling at half the strength of Likud and suffering from a downward trend in the surveys as well.
Voting in Tel Aviv, Ms. Yachimovich said she sensed a "tide'" of support swinging to Labor and predicted that the election would lead to an upset of the ruling party.
The election is also expected to usher into office record numbers of Israeli settlers and Orthodox Jews.
The number of Israeli residents from the West Bank in the Knesset could rise from the current 12 to as many as 18, exaggerating the influence of a constituency that accounts for just under 5 percent of the population, a figure that doesn't include residents of East Jerusalem, who are also considered settlers by the international community.
The representation of religious Jewish parliament members could jump from 26 in the current legislature to 40, according to Israeli political analysts. That also reflects a larger percentage than their representation in the general population.
The surge highlights the ascent of Israel's ideologically driven Jewish settlers and their nationalist religious supporters to the forefront of Israel's political establishment after decades of marginalization and self-segregation, say analysts. Most settlers have been highly critical of the peace process.
The results could also be affected by declining voter turnout among Israel's one-fifth Arab minority. Polls among Israeli Arabs have suggested that turnout could drop below 50 percent, prompting an usual call by the Arab League for Palestinian citizens to exercise their voting rights to offset the growing power of the Israeli right.
Getty ImagesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu casts his ballot at a polling station on election day on Tuesday in Jerusalem.
Despite the expected victory for the prime minister, polls have shown that Mr. Netanyahu's campaign is limping to the finish line amid dropping support that could very likely leave him a weakened prime minister in a more fragile coalition than he currently heads.
The results will determine in part whether Mr. Netanyahu forms a far-right coalition with strong misgivings about peace talks, or joins in an alliance with centrist parties that will support continued diplomatic efforts to renew negotiations with the Palestinians.
Amid unseasonably warm temperatures, turnout during the first five hours of voting was 26.7 percent, higher than the previous election in 2009, Israel Radio reported. Polls are expected to close at 10 p.m. local time, when television news programs will report exit polls.
Higher vote turnout would be a surprise following a campaign that Israeli analysts are calling one of the most lackluster in recent memory. Some of the most pivotal national issues of the day—peace talks with the Palestinians, Iran and the Arab spring—have had little airing.
Mr. Netanyahu voted in Jerusalem soon after the opening of the polling stations at 7 a.m., and expressed hope for a "rain'" of ballot slips for the merged candidate slate shared by his center-right Likud party and Yisrael Beiteinu, the ultra-nationalist party of former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman. Later in the morning he visited the Western Wall holy site in Jerusalem.
Although Mr. Netanyahu is grappling with increased international isolation, strained ties with U.S. President Barack Obama and a looming fiscal austerity plan, the Israeli prime minister has faced little competition from a fractured opposition that lacks a formidable rival candidate for the post.
Polls have unanimously shown that Mr. Netanyahu and his outgoing coalition partners of right-wing and religious parties will control a majority bloc in the 120-member Knesset.
While the absence of a strong challenger on the center-left has sapped excitement about the vote, and Mr. Netanyahu has struggled with robust campaigns from parties to the right of Likud, such as the pro-settler Jewish Home, which have siphoned off support. Polls have indicated that the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu combined candidate slate could drop from 42 seats in the Knesset to the low 30s.
His closest challenger, the center-left Labor Party and its chairwoman, Shelly Yachimovich, has been polling at half the strength of Likud and suffering from a downward trend in the surveys as well.
Voting in Tel Aviv, Ms. Yachimovich said she sensed a "tide'" of support swinging to Labor and predicted that the election would lead to an upset of the ruling party.
The election is also expected to usher into office record numbers of Israeli settlers and Orthodox Jews.
The number of Israeli residents from the West Bank in the Knesset could rise from the current 12 to as many as 18, exaggerating the influence of a constituency that accounts for just under 5 percent of the population, a figure that doesn't include residents of East Jerusalem, who are also considered settlers by the international community.
The representation of religious Jewish parliament members could jump from 26 in the current legislature to 40, according to Israeli political analysts. That also reflects a larger percentage than their representation in the general population.
The surge highlights the ascent of Israel's ideologically driven Jewish settlers and their nationalist religious supporters to the forefront of Israel's political establishment after decades of marginalization and self-segregation, say analysts. Most settlers have been highly critical of the peace process.
The results could also be affected by declining voter turnout among Israel's one-fifth Arab minority. Polls among Israeli Arabs have suggested that turnout could drop below 50 percent, prompting an usual call by the Arab League for Palestinian citizens to exercise their voting rights to offset the growing power of the Israeli right.