Over half of eligible voters have cast ballots in war-delayed municipal elections in south

By Sam Sokol 19 November 2024, 8:35 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

MK Yaakov Asher and election officials meet in at the central election headquarters during southern Israel’s municipal elections, November 19, 2024. (Interior Ministry)

With only hours to go before polls close, the Interior Ministry reports that as of 7 p.m., 53% of eligible voters have cast ballots in southern Israel’s long-delayed municipal elections.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. in the Eshkol Regional Council, Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, Sdot Negev Regional Council and Sderot, more than a year after they were originally slated to take place and nine months after most of the rest of the country held its war-delayed vote.

According to the Interior Ministry, 65,335 voters are eligible to take part in the elections at 15 polling stations within the southern districts and at an additional seven polling stations set up across the rest of the country for residents of the south displaced by the fighting.

While ballots will begin to be counted as soon as the polls close at 10 p.m. this evening, verified results will likely only be released at the end of the week due to the large number of so-called double-envelope ballots expected to be cast by displaced residents and IDF troops, the ministry says.

Despite this, Michal Uziyahu was unilaterally declared the next head of the Eshkol Regional Council on Tuesday afternoon, due to the fact that she ran unopposed.