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Thousands of Israeli voters streamed to polling stations in the Israeli capital Tuesday morning after Israel's general election began at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT).
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Labor Party chairman Amram Mitzna have cast ballots in Jerusalem and Haifa respectively. Mitzna is the mayor of Haifa, Israel's third largest city.
Violence continued into the early hours before polls opened. Four Palestinians have been reported dead in an explosion in a building in Gaza's Sheik Radwan neighborhood.
Concerns about possible Palestinian attacks during the election have forced Israel close all the entry to Palestinian territories on Sunday afternoon.
The Israeli government also ordered the deployment of 1,500 Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers to reinforce 25,000 security guards on the election day, to watch the more than 7,960 polling stations nationwide, which are to be closed at 10:00 p.m. (2000 GMT) Tuesday.
In order to ensure a safe voting at remote polling stations, The Central Elections Committee (CEC) has ordered armored vehicle sand IDF patrols to escort polling station officials who need to travel to Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories.
The bloody conflict between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants has reportedly killed some 2,900 people, including 2,151 Palestinians and 687 Israelis, since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising 28 months ago.
Meanwhile, Israel has seen the worst economic situation since the Jewish state was established in 1948, with unemployment above 10 percent and its currency, shekel, falling.
According to figures published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Some 4.7 million Israeli citizens, including 420,000 living abroad, are eligible to vote in the election to produce the 16th Knesset (parliament) and the 30th government.
A total of 26 parties, instead of the registered 29, will compete in the elections, following the withdrawal announced few days ahead of the elections by the Gesher Party, the Center Party and the Moreshet Avot (Tradition of the Fathers).
Under the Israeli law, a party must get at least 1.5 percent of the vote to be elected into the Knesset.
The list of a new Knesset is expected to come out on Wednesday when the CEC is expected to announce the official results of the election.
Last week, voting was held at Israel's 92 overseas diplomatic missions. CEC Director General Tamar Edri said all these votes will be counted by Thursday evening.
Election Day in Israel is a national holiday, but basic services, including transportation, grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and entertainment facilities are required to be open. And so are shopping malls and emergency services.
Tuesday's vote is the climax of a campaign that the Likud headed by Sharon has led from the very beginning. Sharon has said he wants to form a national unity government like the one whose collapse last fall led to the elections.
But he may have to turn to some small ultra-right parties to form an unstable government as the Labor Party has ruled out its participation after the election.
The Labor has fought an underdog's race, which began when the party pulled out of the unity government it had joined when Sharon formed his coalition in 2001.
Led by Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna, who came from the northern Israeli city to win the party chairmanship from then-defense minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer, the Labor has proposed alternatives to the outgoing government's policies towards the Palestinians, and vowed not to join a unity government after the election.
The Labor intensified its campaign on Monday in a last minute effort to attract more undecided voters.
"We will struggle until victory," Mitzna, 54, said Monday. "If we don't succeed this time, we will continue to be an alternative in the future."
He said Labor is "a responsible party, and will provide a safety net for the government on matters of peace with the Palestinians or war with Iraq. But we don't need a (chauffeur-driven ministerial) Volvo to do so."
Some young voters said they favored Sharon because of his hawkish opinions, including no negotiation before the end of Palestinian terrorist acts against Israelis. Only an end to these attacks, they believed, would bring about peace.
As to Mitzna's dovish proposals such as immediate negotiations with Palestinians and a unilateral withdrawal from the settlements in the occupied territories, some believed they were only long-term goals.
No party is expected to obtain a sweeping majority in the parliament, the analysts predict the political instability in the last seven years, which has brought Israelis four times those in past to polling stations, will be certain to continue.
"In my view, the (Sharon) government will not last until 2007 (the end of its term)," Israeli political analyst Orit Galili said.
The Palestinians worry about a victory of Sharon, which they believe will make things worse.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was quoted by press as saying "it (election) is an important issue ... for the entire region."
The newly-elected Knesset will convene on Feb. 17 for its first session to be opened by President Moshe Katsav.
Within seven days of the release of the elections result, President Katsav, after consulting with representatives of Knesset parties, will assign the task of forming a government to often the leader of the largest party in the Knesset, and appoint him as the prime minister.
The nominee will be given 28 days to form a new government. The President may extend the period by as many as 14 days.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2003)
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