Israeli soldiers head to the polls, even in southern Lebanon

BEIRUT — Six days before civilians, Israeli soldiers began voting in the country’s legislative elections on Wednesday, including those deployed in territories occupied by Israel, among them southern Lebanon.

In a video, an Israeli military spokesperson announced that “mobile and fixed” polling stations had opened across all army units and operational sectors, with more than 850 stations spread “from Mount Hermon to Eilat, from Lebanon to Syria and the Gaza Strip.”

In southern Lebanon, photos circulating online, including a video posted on X by Russo-Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov, showed a polling station set up in the occupied village of Zawtar Sharqieh, in the Nabatieh district. The village lies next to Zawtar Gharbieh, which was handed over to the Lebanese Army as part of the “pilot zones” established in southern Lebanon.

Soldiers will be able to vote over “several days, depending on operational requirements,” the spokesperson said. The elections are considered crucial for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who hopes to retain power. According to The Times of Israel, around 25 % of polling stations are entirely mobile, “to allow soldiers and reservists deployed in hard-to-reach areas to vote, including in the 40 outposts in the Gaza Strip, at many military positions in Lebanon and in nine outposts in Syria.”

These mobile polling stations will move between several units according to a predefined schedule. Staff will be accompanied by an armed officer responsible for security, and ballot boxes will remain locked during transit, the Israeli newspaper reported. Citing the army, the newspaper added that around 3,000 soldiers, mainly young conscripts, were working at the polling stations, while tens of thousands of military personnel were expected to vote.