Jerusalem:Voter turnout in Israel's parliamentary elections reached 74.3% by 8 pm local time (1800 GMT) on Tuesday, as reported by the Central Elections Committee.

According to Anadolu Agency – English, a total of 5,449,277 voters cast their ballots out of 7,331,981 eligible voters. The turnout was 8 percentage points higher than the previous elections, which stood at 66.3% at the same time. The number of voters who had participated increased by approximately 12%.

Earlier figures from the committee indicated that turnout was 66.7% at 6 pm, 55.7% at 4 pm, and 44.9% at 2 pm. The committee's presidium also rejected a request by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party to extend voting beyond the scheduled closing time of 10 pm local time (2000 GMT).