JERUSALEM: Tuesday's election may hinge on the backing of a far-right party, whose leaders call for the expulsion of those deemed disloyal to Israel, and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking a return to power. I have to face a tough race.

Voter irritability may stifle election participation – the country ranks its fifth in less than four years – but growing support for the ultranationalist religious Zionism bloc and its fiercest co-leader Itamar Ben-Gawir energized the contest. Is.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, is currently facing corruption charges, which he has denied, but his right-wing Likud party is still projected to end up with the most seats in parliament.

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However, he is still short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, according to final elections released last week. This raises the possibility of additional elections as well as weeks of coalition talks.

In a campaign launched by outgoing centrist Prime Minister Yair Lapid's decision to hold early elections due to defections from his ruling coalition, security and rising prices have emerged as voters' top concerns.

Months of unrest in the occupied West Bank have also served as the backdrop for the campaign.

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However, the policy disagreement has been overshadowed by Netanyahu's bigoted figure, whose legal battles have fueled a stalemate in stalling Israel's political system since he was accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in 2019.

Ben-Gwir and fellow far-right leader Bezel Smotrich have eaten into Likud's traditional Hawkish base as Netanyahu's legal issues remain, and religious Zionism, once a marginal party, is now expected to be the third largest party in parliament.

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Ben-Gwir, a former member of Kach, a group on terrorist watch lists of both Israel and the US, has softened some of his earlier stances, but the prospect of joining the Benjamin Netanyahu-led coalition government worries Washington. can do

Lapid has focused his campaign on the economic performance of the unlikely coalition formed after the last election and includes right-wing, centrist, and, for the first time, an Arab party, as well as diplomatic progress.