Cypriots driving past Larnaca Airport last month were greeted by an unusual sight: a political campaign billboard, despite the country’s parliamentary elections having concluded in May. Even more striking, the signs featured neither a Cypriot politician nor any message in one of Cyprus’s official languages. Instead, the face looking down on the cars speeding past was that of Gadi Eisenkot, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main rival in the upcoming elections, alongside a Hebrew message specifically addressed to Israeli vacationers.

The unprecedented play for Israeli votes outside of Israel was more than a novel election tactic, experts say. It also offered an early glimpse into what could become one of the most unconventional and consequential election campaigns in Israel’s history, with the electoral process itself increasingly emerging as a political battleground.

Eisenkot’s overseas campaign is only one front in a broader struggle taking place over ballot box access for voters occupying a number of usually little-considered niches, as parties scramble for whatever advantage they can find in a race that could turn on razor-thin margins.

With elderly Israelis and those residing abroad seen as more likely to lean toward center-left parties, battles are taking shape over polling stations in elderly care homes and around expats’ ability to fly back to vote. There are also disputes cropping up around transportation for voters inside the country and concerns regarding voter intimidation, turning Israel’s ability to hold free and fair election from a fact into a question.

The October 27 ballot is “perhaps one of the most consequential elections in [Israel’s] history,” said Yael Shomer, an associate professor in the School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs at Tel Aviv University and a researcher at The Israel National Election Studies (INES).

“In previous elections, the main questions were usually who would govern, which coalition would be formed, and what policies it would pursue,” Shomer explained. “This time, for many Israelis, the election is also about the future character of the political system itself.”

According to Assaf Shapira, head of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Political Reform Program, the growing number of political battles over Israel’s electoral system reflects a broader trend of polarization and populism.

“You see increasing attacks on the Central Elections Committee… by representatives or Knesset members or journalists identified with the right-wing bloc,” Shapira noted. “You don’t believe the authorities of the state. You think that they are supporters of a specific political bloc.”

The CEC, headed by Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, is supposed to act as the state’s electoral referee, but Shapira and other critics see comments calling the body’s fairness into question as part of a delegitimization campaign that could ultimately lead to electoral results being challenged.

Sitting beside Sohlberg during a recent Knesset subcommittee meeting, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth criticized the CEC and questioned appointments that some right-wing lawmakers claimed reflected political bias or improper ties to opposition figures.

According to Shapira, an increasingly prevalent view of political opponents as “enemies” is fueling suspicions on both sides that their rivals will not “respect the electoral process” and “the integrity of the election,” in turn leading to more arguments regarding election procedures.

Concerns over election integrity are also being taken seriously by senior figures meant to be insulated from politics.

Last month, President Isaac Herzog said that he, Sohlberg and Shin Bet chief David Zini were committed to “ensuring the integrity of the election,” warning that there were “many elements seeking to sabotage from within, and especially from the outside,” though he did not elaborate.

Overseas voters take center stage

Eisenkot’s unusual campaign strategy was apparently aimed at Israelis traveling abroad for their summer holidays, according to Liron Lavi of Bar-Ilan University’s political studies department. Cyprus, she said, was an obvious choice for such a campaign. Some 590,000 Israelis visited the island in 2025 alone, according to the Ynet new outlet citing the Cyprus Tourism Ministry’s representative office in Israel.

A spokesperson for Eisenkot confirmed to The Times of Israel that the billboards were part of the Yashar party’s official campaign, adding that the initiative may expand to other foreign countries, without providing further details.

Lavi pointed to Greece as a possible next destination for the campaign, since, like........

© The Times of Israel