Elections will determine whether Israel remains the Middle East’s only democracy, new report says

Friday 16 October, 2026 Los Angeles/DNA - For the first time since the Hamas attacks of three years ago, Israel is set to go to the polls on October 27 to elect the members of the 26th Knesset. In 2023 the country was in the top group of ‘consolidated democratic states’, according to the 2026 Berggruen Governance Index (BGI), just as it had been in 2000. However, according to a new report from governance experts, the wars unleashed on multiple fronts in rapid succession following the Hamas attacks launched from Gaza have changed Israel politically, economically, and socially. The report ‘Israeli Governance Performance: The 2026 Elections, Democracy and Future Scenarios’ was produced by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute, and Berlin’s Hertie School. The ongoing election campaign, which never stopped despite the longest war in Israel’s history, is about to conclude with voting at the ballot box, in what the entire population is experiencing as an existential moment. The issues raised by the parties and candidates are all domestic: primarily the establishment of a commission to investigate responsibility for the e

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