JERUSALEM
Israel will hold early elections on Tuesday after its unicameral legislature, Knesset, took a decision in that regard last November.
All gallup polls show Prime Minister Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu as the favorite in Tuesday's elections where 34 political parties would compete against each other.
Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to enter the elections with a joint list and their far right double bloc currently has 42 seats in the Knesset. Their bloc is expected to win only 32 seats at most on Tuesday.
Likud Party led by Netanyahu and former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu had decided to enter the Israeli elections with a joint list.
While Netanyahu leads all gallup polls, his 'Likud-Beitenu' bloc is expected to win less seats than the current number of seats held.
Netanyahu is expected to be given the duty of forming the government by the Israeli President Shimon Peres.
-Issue of national security leaves mark on Israeli election campaigns-
Prime Minister Netanyahu's election campaign mainly focused on national security and the 'nuclear threat' from Iran.
Latest Israeli gallup polls indicate that right parties would win 63 seats while leftist parties would win 57 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
According to the latest gallup polls in Israel, the distribution of seats on Tuesday is expected to be as follows:
Kadima: 2
Likud-Beiteinu: 32
Labor Party: 17
Shas: 12
Ra'am Tal-al: 3
Hadash: 5
United Torah Judaism: 5
Yesh Atid: 12
Hatnuah: 8
The Jewish Home: 14
Meretz: 6
Balad: 4
-Figures of Israeli general elections-
*There are 87 political parties in Israel. 34 political parties will participate in Tuesday's elections. 12 of those parties are currently represented in the Knesset.
*Tuesday's elections will be Israel's 19th one since 1948, the year when Israel was established.
*Ballot boxes will be placed in a total of 10,235 centers.
*There are 5,659,560 registered voters in Israel. Out of that number, 800,000 of them are Arabs.
*Israel will spend around 65 million USD for Tuesday's elections.
*The electoral threshold in Israel is only two percent.
*Elections on Tuesday will begin at 07.00 a.m. and end at 10.00 p.m.
*Individuals 18 years old or older can vote in Israeli elections.
*Voter participation in the latest elections was 64.7 percent.
