Israeli elections live: Turnout in Israel’s early elections highest in decades as Netanyahu fights to retain power

Benjamin Netanyahu has already secured his record in Israeli political history: he is the longest-serving prime minister, with approximately 19 years over three terms in office.

In 2019, he overtook David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, who was in power for 13 years and 127 days.

Netanyahu, now 77, was 46 when he first became prime minister in 1996. He held the post for three years before losing power and spending a decade out of power.

In 2009, he made his first comeback, returning to the post of Prime Minister for 12 consecutive years. In 2021, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid managed to put together an alternative government coalition, but it collapsed after just a year. Bennett served for one year and 17 days, and Lapid succeeded him for only 181 days, making them the two shortest serving prime ministers in Israeli history.

After a brief period in opposition, Netanyahu is making his second comeback, returning to power in December 2022 for his sixth term. His outgoing government also set a record, becoming the first Israeli government to complete its term in almost 40 years.

Netanyahu bears another historic distinction. He is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be tried for corruption while in office, a legal saga that has shaped his political alliances over the past decade and increased his reliance on his far-right and ultra-Orthodox partners, with whom he formed his latest coalition.

As Netanyahu seeks a seventh term, the election is once again a referendum on his leadership, but this time he also carries another historical burden. Netanyahu was serving as prime minister on October 7, 2023, the date of the deadliest security failure in Israel’s history. He is the only senior Israeli official in office that day to remain in office.

This election will determine whether Netanyahu extends his record term in office or whether another chapter in Israel’s political history begins.