Parliamentary elections expected to be a tight race between PM Netanyahu’s Likud party and centre-left Zionist Union.
Polls have opened in Israel in a crucial election seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ruled out a Palestinian state as part of a last-ditch appeal to right-wing voters.
Around six million Israelis are eligible to take part in the vote on Tuesday to elect 120 deputies for the Knesset, or parliament, with polling stations opening at 7:00am (0500 GMT).
The latest opinion poll shows Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party behind the centre-left Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog.
On Monday night, Netanyahu ruled out a Palestinian state if re-elected, and vowed to keep building East Jerusalem settlements.
Having previously hinted that he would accept a Palestinian state, Netanyahu reversed course, citing risks in the region.
“Whoever moves to establish a Palestinian state or intends to withdraw from territory is simply yielding territory for radical Islamic terrorist attacks against Israel,” he told the Israeli news site NRG.
Asked if that meant a state would not be established if he remained prime minister, he said: “Indeed.”
Earlier, Netanyahu also paid a last-minute visit to Har Homa, which the international community considers an illegal settlement, and declared that Jerusalem will remain undivided.
The Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as their capital.
“We will preserve Jerusalem’s unity in all its parts. We will continue to build and fortify Jerusalem so that its division won’t be possible and it will stay united forever,” Netanyahu said, explaining that Har Homa was built to contain Palestinian development in the nearby West Bank town of Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, the moderate opposition announced a dramatic last-minute machination of its own, announcing late on Monday that Herzog’s main partner, former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, had given up an agreement to rotate the prime minister post with him if their alliance wins. It was widely thought that the unusual arrangement was driving away voters.
Tuesday’s election caps an acrimonious three-month campaign.
National elections are held every four years, unless Israel’s parliament votes to dissolve the government and hold new elections.
In early December, Netanyahu fired Livni as justice minister and Yair Lapid as finance minister paving the way for early elections for the 20th parliament.
No single party has ever won an outright majority in the Knesset, making coalitions the norm.
Israel’s president picks the political leader whom he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition to have a go first.
Herzog’s coalition is predicted to take 24 to 26 seats in the 120-member parliament, compared with 20 to 22 for Netanyahu’s Likud.
In that respect, Netanyahu’s pledge, coupled with his visit to a prominent West Bank settlement, appeared designed to draw as much of the right-wing vote as possible.
That may succeed in closing the four-seat gap that the centre-left has over his Likud party going into the vote, increasing the possibility that President Reuven Rivlin will choose him to try to form a coalition first, not the opposition.
If he is reelected, he would be on track to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has publicly endorsed the Zionist Union’s Herzog.
In Tuesday’s polls, there will be 10,372 polling stations nationwide.
There are 25 lists battling it out for seats, reflecting the country’s diverse political map, but opinion polls predict that only 11 are expected to enter parliament.
No party in Israel has ever been able to secure the necessary 61-seat majority to rule alone.
Creating a coalition can be painstaking, as the leading party must accommodate different parties demanding portfolios in the new cabinet, each with its own agenda.
This is the main source of instability in most Israeli governments, and just six of the past 19 parliaments have been able to complete their four-year mandate.
