Israel’s election marked the country’s first referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership after years of war, increasing international isolation and domestic turmoil, including controversy over a proposed judicial overhaul.
Final election data, based on more than five million counted ballots, provides an initial view of how that turbulent period shaped voting behavior.
In communities along Israel’s borders with Gaza and Lebanon, voting patterns from before the war largely remained in place. This was also true in some areas that suffered extensive damage after the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and during repeated clashes with Hezbollah.
Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanese border, and Sderot, close to Gaza, continued to support Netanyahu’s Likud party. Likud also led in several smaller Lebanese-border communities whose residents spent months evacuated, as well as in Ashkelon and Ofakim, longtime Likud strongholds near Gaza that were heavily affected by the conflict.
The pattern was different in Israel’s wealthiest towns and cities. These predominantly secular Jewish communities, many located around Tel Aviv, have traditionally favored center-left parties, and support for Netanyahu declined in those areas.
Sources: The New York Times World.