text: The 2013 election continues to break voter turnout records. Some 3.6 million Israelis have already exercised their right to vote and polling stations are struggling to keep up with the flow of voters. 
   
   The Central Elections Committee reported a high voter turnout compared to the same time at the past four election campaigns. The Central Elections Committee said that 63.7% of eligible voters have cast their ballots as of 8 pm, compared with 59.7% in the 2009 elections and 63.2% in 2006. Voting will continue until 10 pm. 
   
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   The Central Elections Committee, which ran a campaign to encourage voting, was satisfied with the data. It is hoped that the 2013 election will break Israel's voting record. 
   
   Polling stations across Israel opened on Tuesday at 7 am. A total of 5,656,705 eligible voters will be able to cast their ballots in 10,132 ballot boxes across Israel. 
   
   
   
   
   
   Line in Tel Aviv polling station (Photo: Yaron Brener) 
   
   
   
   
   
   Voting in Jerusalem (Photo: Gil Yohanan) 
   
   A worker at a polling station in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard remarked, "I worked during the previous elections as well and I can’t recall such a flow of voters, certainly not at this hour. We haven't had a single free moment since this morning." 
   
   President Shimon Peres voted at the Charles E. Smith High School for the Arts in Jerusalem. "Today the state is asking citizens to vote for a free, beautiful, democratic country," he said after casting his ballot. 
   
   He wished success to all the candidates and called on the public to exercise their right to vote. 
   
   
   
   
   
   One in every four Israelis voted by 12 pm (Photo: EPA) 
   
   Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said that compared to previous elections, there were no unusual disturbances. "It really is a celebration of democracy," he said. Danino noted that police handled a few isolated incidents that did not disrupt voting. 
   
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   ||||| What space has been devoted to the race has emphasized the lackluster nature of the campaign and its foregone conclusion. 
   
   Obama and Netanyahu meeting in NY, Sept. 2011 Photo: Reuters 
   
   WASHINGTON – It is possible that the American press would have paid more attention to the Israeli election had it not coincided with the installation of its own executive leadership. 
   
   But it is unlikely. 
   
   The vote in Israel falls one day after United States President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, which has dominated US media coverage over the past week. What space has been devoted to the race in Israel, has emphasized the lackluster nature of the campaign and its foregone conclusion – not exactly stop-the-presses kinds of stories. 
   
   In perhaps the clearest sign that the elections have been viewed as less-than-gripping news cycle fodder, a recurrent theme in the relatively few stories that have been published here is what’s not being discussed in the campaign, rather than what is. 
   
   Both The New York Times and Washington Post on Monday ran stories, well inside the paper, about the lack of debate on certain topics. 
   
   In a Memo from the Middle East titled “An Unusual Election for Its Non-issues,” The Times detailed the lack of details being provided on policies, noting that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hadn’t even produced a formal platform. 
   
   
   
   The Washington Post summed up its story with the headline: “In Israeli election, Iran issue avoided.” 
   
   And if Israeli politicians aren’t tackling big issues with global implications, why would the media an ocean away pay them much heed? Iran, Syria, Al-Qaida remain major concerns in America. 
   
   But in contrast to all these actors, who are driving new developments each day, Israel has remained static on these issues during the course of the election, and there is no sense that the elections have provided clues to what course the next government could take on these subjects. 
   
   With Obama re-taking his place in the Oval Office and Netanyahu all-but-certain to remain prime minister, even the popular storyline of dysfunction and disagreement between the two leaders only makes for well-trod ground. 
   
   Though the discord could well continue – and certainly the tensions over the announcement of construction plans in E-1, put forward by Netanyahu, at least in part to neutralize a political challenge on his right, point in that direction – it is also the case that after four years of sparring, the two wearied men could instead opt for accommodation. 
   
   Then the media would have even fewer stories to write on the US-Israel relationship. ||||| TEL AVIV — A weakened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged Wednesday from Israel ’s national election likely to serve a third term, after voters on Tuesday gave a surprising second place to a new centrist party founded by a television celebrity who emphasized kitchen-table issues like class size and apartment prices. 
   
   For Mr. Netanyahu, who entered the race an overwhelming favorite with no obvious challenger, the outcome was a humbling rebuke as his ticket lost seats in the new Parliament. Over all, his conservative team came in first, but it was the center, led by the political novice Yair Lapid, 49, that emerged newly invigorated, suggesting that at the very least Israel’s rightward tilt may be stalled. 
   
   Mr. Lapid, a telegenic celebrity whose father made a splash with his own short-lived centrist party a decade ago, ran a campaign that resonated with the middle class. His signature issue is a call to integrate the ultra-Orthodox into the army and the work force. 
   
   Perhaps as important, he also avoided antagonizing the right, having not emphasized traditional issues of the left, like the peace process. Like a large majority of the Israeli public, he supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is skeptical of the Palestinian leadership’s willingness to negotiate seriously; he has called for a return to peace talks but has not made it a priority. 
   
   Sensing his message of strength was not penetrating, Mr. Netanyahu posted a panicky message on Facebook before the polls closed, saying, “The Likud government is in danger, go vote for us for the sake of the country’s future.” Tuesday ended with Mr. Netanyahu reaching out again — this time to Mr. Lapid, Israel’s newest kingmaker, offering to work with him as part of the “broadest coalition possible.” 
   
   Israel’s political hierarchy is only partly determined during an election. The next stage, when factions try to build a majority coalition, decides who will govern, how they will govern and for how long. While Mr. Lapid has signaled a willingness to work with Mr. Netanyahu, the ultimate coalition may bring together parties with such different ideologies and agendas that the result is paralysis. 
   
   Still, for the center, it was a time of celebration. 
   
   “The citizens of Israel today said no to politics of fear and hatred,” Mr. Lapid told an upscale crowd of supporters who had welcomed him with drums, dancing and popping Champagne corks. “They said no to the possibility that we might splinter off into sectors, and groups and tribes and narrow interest groups. They said no to extremists, and they said no to antidemocratic behavior.” 
   
   With 99 percent of the ballots counted by Wednesday morning, the traditional blocs were evenly divided, with 60 Parliament seats for right-wing and religious parties, and 60 for center, left and Arab-dominated factions. 
   
   Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud-Beiteinu ticket had 31 seats, followed by 19 for Mr. Lapid’s Yesh Atid and 15 for Labor. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the Jewish Home, which is dominated by religious-Zionists and advocates annexing the West Bank, each garnered 11 seats. Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua and the left-wing, pro-peace Meretz each got six, while the three Arab parties totaled 12. Kadima which won the most parliament seats – 28 – in the last election, had 2, having collapsed after briefly joining the Netanyahu coalition last year but failing to fulfill its promises. Votes of soldiers and a few other groups had yet to be counted and could change the balance. 
   
   The prime minister called Mr. Lapid shortly after the polls closed at 10 p.m. Tuesday and, according to Israeli television reports, told him that they had great things to do together for the country. In his speech to a rowdy crowd of supporters here Wednesday morning, he said, “I see many partners.” 
   
   Mr. Lapid indicated he was open to working with Mr. Netanyahu, saying the only way to face Israel’s challenges was “together.” But he added: “What is good for Israel is not in the possession of the right, and nor is it in the possession of the left. It lies in the possibility of creating here a real and decent center.”
target: – It's election day in Israel, but there's not a lot of intrigue: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certain to win another term, although his ticket (a joint ticket combining his conservative Likud Party with the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu) could lose as many as 10 of the seats it currently holds in Parliament, perhaps to Jewish Home, a party that is further to the right. Despite the foregone conclusion, YNetNews reports that the country is seeing its highest voter turnout since 1999, and the election could end up breaking voting records in Israel. The New York Times reports that voter participation had previously been dropping steadily, perhaps due to voter fatigue (Israel held five general elections, plus a direct ballot for prime minister, between 1992 and 2009); it was at less than 65% in 2009. This year, the Central Elections Committee ran a rousing voter drive, and President Shimon Peres urged everyone to vote. The Jerusalem Post notes that US media don't seem to care about the Israeli vote, perhaps because it falls on the day after President Obama's second inauguration. Most US coverage has focused on the less-than-exciting nature of the race and the lack of debate in Israel on some topics—for example, Netanyahu's failure to produce a formal platform.