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From the Liveblog of Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Voter turnout remains low, just 26% of eligible voters cast ballots by 3 p.m.

By Sam Sokol

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27 February 2024, 4:36 pm Edit

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"

Israelis at a voting station during the Municipal Elections, in Moshav Haniel, on February 27, 2024. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

Voter turnout remains low, with only 26 percent of eligible voters casting their ballots in municipal elections as of 3 p.m., according to data from the Interior Ministry.

This year’s voter turnout, totaling some 1,842,645 votes cast, continues to lag behind the last local elections in 2018, when 32.6% had voted by the same time.

2018 saw a higher turnout than any vote since 1989, but was also the first time since 1989 that election day was declared a national vacation day.

Some 26% have voted in Ashdod and Bnei Brak while turnout rose to 23% in Tel Aviv, 21% in Haifa and 20% in Beersheba. In in Jerusalem, 16.4% of eligible voters have cast ballots. The city with the highest turnout so far is 56.5% in the northern Arab town of Mi’ilya.