For the first time, Israeli soldiers will be able to vote while operating across the international border, an Israeli military official told JNS.
“The IDF is preparing to conduct the elections in a challenging operational environment to ensure that all service members can exercise their right to vote,” the official told JNS.
More than 800 military polling stations, both mobile and stationary, will be deployed across all units and operational sectors starting as early as next week, the official said.
Mobile stations will move between units on a “predetermined schedule,” with each polling committee accompanied by an armed officer or noncommissioned officer responsible for security. Ballot boxes will remain locked during transit, the official said.
Early voting in the IDF will begin on the evening of Oct. 20 and continue through the general election on Oct. 27.
Regular-duty soldiers and active-duty reservists may vote at either military or civilian polling stations, with a double-envelope system used to verify eligibility and prevent double voting, the official said.
Hundreds of election officers and about 3,000 soldiers trained as polling committee members will administer the voting, with each station run by a four-member committee, the official added.
Israelis are heading to the polls to elect the 120 members of the 26th Knesset in the country’s first national election since 2022 and first since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, and the multi-front war that followed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party faces opposition challengers including Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar!, the B’Yachad list headed by Naftali Bennett, with Yair Lapid in second place, Yair Golan’s Democrats and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu. Under Israel’s proportional representation system, electoral lists must receive at least 3.25% of valid votes to win seats, while 61 seats constitute a parliamentary majority.
