Local elections in Israel, delayed by the war in Gaza, have returned gains for Ultra-Orthodox and far-right parties after low turnout in most areas.
The municipal votes were expected to serve as an indication of public opinion after the 7 October Hamas attack and the ensuing war in the Gaza Strip. Just under 50% of the seven million eligible voters turned up to polling stations, and rightwing and religious parties allied with the Likud, the party of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were more successful in mobilising their bases.
Although there were no major political upsets, as all large cities except the coastal city of Haifa re-elected incumbent mayors, security was a higher priority than usual for voters, who cast ballots in first-round votes for mayors and councillors on Tuesday.
“I am more scared than I was before. I don’t think we should kick out all the Arab workers, but I think we do need to be more careful. I voted for someone who said they would prioritise that,” said Odeya, a 30-year-old who cast her vote in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, regarded as illegal under international law.
“If this was a national election, I would not be voting for the Likud. I like our mayor and he does a good job,” she said, referring to the incumbent Oded Revivi, a candidate from Netanyahu’s party. “On a national level, I think we need to be doing much more to keep Israel safe.”
Most results had been tallied by Saturday night, after the end of Shabbat, and the 150,000 or so people displaced from their homes by the conflict will vote in November. Last week’s polls, originally scheduled for 31 October last year, were twice delayed by the outbreak of the war. The low turnout was blamed on people’s preoccupation with the war.
Two candidates for council chief in areas on the border with Gaza were killed on 7 October: Ofir Libstein in Kfar Aza and Tamar Kedem Siman Tov, who was shot dead at her home in Nir Oz with her husband and three young children.
About 1,200 people were killed and another 250 abducted in the attack, while Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza is thought to have killed more than 30,000 people.
On Jerusalem’s city council – the Palestinian eastern half of which was annexed – preliminary results indicated an “unprecedented majority” of ultra-Orthodox parties, local media reported, in line with the city’s trend towards conservatism over the last two decades. The divided city’s rightwing mayor, Moshe Lion, will remain in office as expected.
In a statement, the Likud spoke of a “great victory” in the municipal contests. “The rightwing bloc throughout the country has strengthened,” it said.
Palestinian residents make up about 40% of the city’s population and are eligible to vote in Israel’s local elections, but often boycott them in protest at the occupation of the Palestinian territories and annexation of Jerusalem.
Israel’s centrist and leftwing parties were not as visible on the campaign trail, appearing to be conserving their energy in the battle to force early national elections that could oust Netanyahu from office.
The rightwing bloc’s success is unlikely to be repeated at a national level; polling shows that Netanyahu’s coalition of far-right and religious parties would incur massive losses if an election was held now. The centrist party of Benny Gantz, a minister without portfolio in the emergency war cabinet, would currently be by far the strongest faction.
Netanyahu has faced significant pressure to step down for nearly a decade over his ongoing trials for corruption charges, which he denies, as well as a controversial judicial overhaul, initiated last year.
The anti-government protest movement has resurged since 7 October over the fate of hostages still held in Gaza. Normally at home on the campaign trail, Netanyahu was noticeably absent from this year’s contests.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a post on X that the local polls showed that holding national elections during the war would pose “no problem”. Netanyahu, meanwhile, is seeking to delay what is likely to be a referendum on his political future as long as possible.