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Israelis go to polls in parliamentary elections

Xinhua, March 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israelis went to the polls Tuesday morning in early parliamentary elections which will decide whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party would continue its hold on power.

The voting started at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) Tuesday and is due to end at 10 p.m.. There are 5.8 million Israelis eligible to vote in 10,119 polls nationwide.

More than 20 parties are vying for the 120 seats in the one-chamber Knesset, of which opinion polls predicted about 11 would make it into the Knesset.

The opposition center-left Zionist Union is projected to be the largest party with around 25 seats, followed by the Likud with around 21 seats.

At a polling station in the central coastal city of Tel Aviv, Roy Aharon, 42, told Xinhua that he voted for the opposition center-left Zionist Union party led by Issac Herzog.

"Last time I voted for Yair Lapid (leader of Yash Atid party), but I think it was a mistake. He made many promises he didn't keep and things were actually worse," Aharon said.

He said the most important thing is to replace Netanyahu as prime minister and prevent him from getting another term.

"I feel that if we don't replace him, we don't have any hope left. The Zionist Union has some excellent politicians, and I hope they will be strong enough to beat Netanyahu and the Likud."

Three major Israeli television stations will broadcast the results of their exit polls at 10 p.m. and official results are expected to be announced early Wednesday morning after most of the votes are counted. Endit