Evacuated communities to hold municipal elections Tuesday, eight months after the rest of the country

Tens of thousands of Israelis who live in areas close to the Lebanon border and adjacent to the Gaza Strip will head out to vote in municipal elections on Tuesday, more than eight months after the rest of the country.

When municipal and regional elections were held back in February, the Interior Ministry decided to postpone elections until November 19 in areas that were evacuated due to the war with Hamas in Gaza and the near-daily rocket fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In southern Israel, elections on Tuesday will be held in Sderot, the Eshkol Regional Council, Sdot Negev Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council and the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, Ynet reports.

The previous head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council Ofir Libstein was killed in battle with Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7.

In total, 65,335 people will be eligible to vote at 117 polling stations across southern Israel, Ynet adds.

Residents of areas close to the Lebanon border will not return to their evacuated communities to vote, but will instead choose their representatives at special polling stations for evacuees in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem. They will be provided with transport to the polling stations, Ynet reports.