JERUSALEM _ Israelis went to the polls Monday in an unprecedented third national election in less than a year, one aimed at breaking a political deadlock over who should lead the nation.
The race again pits Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, due to be tried on corruption charges in two weeks, against rival Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff.
Neither man's party is expected to win a parliamentary majority. Instead, each candidate is hoping simply to outpoll the other and be asked to try to form a coalition government.
Both have failed in previous efforts.
The contest features a field of 29 parties, but less than a third of them are likely to pass a threshold of 3.25% of the vote, which would allow them to enter the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset.
Because neither Netanyahu's conservative Likud nor Gantz's centrist Blue and White party is expected to win anything close to a parliamentary majority, smaller parties can play a kingmaker role.
At 70, Netanyahu is the country's longest-serving leader, and the first to be indicted while in office. He has sought to woo voters by touting a close relationship with President Trump, who last month unveiled a Mideast plan that grants most of Israel's wishes.
Gantz, a decade younger, has hammered Netanyahu over the corruption charges, but Likud's hard-line base has paid little heed. The prime minister denies any wrongdoing.
As he has done before previous votes, Netanyahu has pledged to move toward annexing Jewish settlements in the West Bank if he triumphs and is able to form a government. Most of the outside world considers the settlements illegal under international law.
In the last vote, in September, Gantz's Blue and White won one more parliamentary seat than Netanyahu, and he hopes to match or surpass that performance. He has sought to make the race a referendum on the prime minister's character, saying Netanyahu has shown himself _ not least through campaign dirty tricks _ to be unfit to lead.
The two main parties have similar views on security matters, including on Iran and dealings with the Palestinians. But Gantz has evinced more openness to negotiating Palestinian statehood, which is envisioned in the Trump plan, but with onerous obstacles.
Palestinians have dismissed the Trump proposal out of hand, and it has attracted little international support.
Almost certainly, the two big parties would have a governing majority if they opted to team up, but Gantz says he will not form a coalition with Likud while Netanyahu leads the party, because of his indictment.
Voter turnout _ or burnout _ is expected to be a key factor in determining the vote's outcome, especially in Likud strongholds among Israeli Arabs, who make up one-fifth of the country's population.
In the last vote, the Arab parties formed a bloc called the Joint List, which performed strongly, garnering 13 parliamentary seats. The latest polls suggest a surge of support for it.
Netanyahu has sought to inflame his nationalist base by warning that Gantz, if victorious, would depend on the Arab parties for parliamentary support.
Another important element will be the showing by the secular ultranationalist party Yisrael Beiteinu, led by Avigdor Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union and a former defense minister.
Lieberman, an erstwhile ally of Netanyahu who became his nemesis, could hold the balance of power in coalition-building efforts, as he did after the two votes in 2019. If he forms an alliance with either of the main parties, the one he picks would be much better positioned to attain the needed majority.
(Special correspondent Tarnopolsky reported from Jerusalem and Times staff writer King from Washington.)
