Pollsters: Arab turnout may be lowest in decades

Prominent pollsters are starting to tell media outlets that their exit polls — which by law can’t be released until after polls close at 10 p.m. — are showing dramatically reduced turnout in Arab towns.

Pollster Camil Fuchs is quoted by journalist Raviv Drucker as saying, “Voter turnout in the Arab community is something we’ve never seen before.”

Meno Geva, another well-known pollster, tells Channel 12 that polls in Nazareth, Umm al-Fahm and other Arab population centers show startlingly low numbers arriving at polling stations.

Two major Arab parties are running today. Hadash-Ta’al, a merger of two parties from the outgoing Knesset’s Joint (Arab) List, had six seats in the final election poll on Friday. The Ra’am-Balad alliance of Arab factions was heading for four seats, just above the 3.25% Knesset threshold.