JERUSALEM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli President Reuven Rivlin cast his ballot on Monday in the third elections within a year, urging citizens to go vote to avoid another political stalemate and possible fourth elections.
Recent public opinion polls predict a tie between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main rival, centrist Benny Gantz, suggesting another deadlock following inconclusive results in the two previous rounds of elections in 2019.
"This is usually a festive day, but the truth is that I don't feel celebratory," Rivlin said after casting his vote in a Jerusalem ballot, according to a statement issued by his office. "I only feel a sense of deep shame when I face you, my fellow citizens," he said.
"We don't deserve another horrible election campaign that descends into filth, like the one that ends today," he said, referring to the particularly tremulous campaign Israel saw over the past few months.
Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party and Israel's former military chief, cast his ballots with his wife in a polling station in his hometown, Rosh Ha'ayin, north of Tel Aviv.
He urged his supporters to go vote and said he hopes that "today we could embark on a new way for Israel." He called for a "process of healing" for Israel's fractious society.
"Over the last days, we have all been exposed to lies, recordings and a system that tries to pit us against each other," he said, referring to a series of leaked insider recordings and personal attacks against him.
Earlier in the morning, Netanyahu claimed internal polls commissioned by the Likud show the party and its right-wing and Jewish ultra-Orthodox ally were very close to achieving a 61-seat majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament.
"One more seat to the Likud and we are winning," he wrote on his Facebook page on Monday morning.
Polls on Israel's main TV new channels show a tie between Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and Gantz's centrist Blue and White party, with a possible slight majority to the Likud. Both parties could not win enough votes needed to form a governing coalition, according to the polls.
Netanyahu's re-election campaign was held under the shadow of his upcoming corruption trial, which will be opened on March 17.
Later, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, cast their votes at a high school in Jerusalem. "I urge the citizens of Israel to go vote. This is a great democratic right and we should be proud of it," he said.
The vote will end at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), with results from exit polls expected shortly later.
