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Israeli polls takes place today at 8,280 polling stations which will begin at 7am and end at 10pm. The following are the facts about the parliamentary elections:
- Each voter casts a ballot for one of 31 party lists standing for the 120-member parliament, rather than for an individual candidate. Opinion polls show only 12 to 13 parties have a chance of winning places.
- Israel has 4.5 million eligible voters in a population of about 6.8 million. Voting at 8,280 polling stations will begin at 7am and end at 10pm.
- Results of exit polls will be televised at 10pm (2000 GMT) and near-final results should be available early tomorrow morning.
- Elections are supposed to take place every four years, unless an early ballot is called.
- A party must receive at least 2 per cent of the ballots cast, a maximum of about 90,000 votes, to meet the threshold for entry into the Knesset.
- Some commentators predict weaker turnout than usual, owing to opinion polls suggesting that victory by interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party is a foregone conclusion. On average, turnout is about 80 per cent.
- No one party is expected to win enough votes for a parliamentary majority. Israel has always been ruled by coalition governments.
- Official results must be published in the state gazette within 14 days of the vote. President Moshe Katsav will then have a week to assign one of the newly elected members of parliament the task of forming a government.
- That person, usually the leader of the party that garnered the most seats in the election, will have 28 days to form a government. That period may be extended for up to 14 days.
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