(IsraelNN.com) Local elections are underway as of 7:00 a.m. Tuesday in 159 municipalities, out of a total of 253 throughout the country. A total of 639 mayoral candidates are running for office, alongside 1,597 municipal council slates.
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss and a team of his staffers will be visiting polling places.

Approximately 4.8 million Israelis are eligible to vote in the municipal elections. However, voter turnout in local elections in Israel has been relatively low since the late 1970s, hovering just below 60 percent. The Interior Ministry expects a little more than that to vote today. To try and combat the trend, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit is intending to hold a news conference around 8:30 p.m., during Israel television's evening newscast, urging citizens who haven't yet done so to go to the polls. Polling stations will close at 10:00 p.m. Schools are closed in localities where elections are being held.

Voters in most districts will be voting with two ballots, for mayor and for a party list to represent them in the local council. In jurisdictions where no candidate receives more than 40 percent of the votes, second-round elections will be held in two weeks.

As part of the oversight of the municipal election process, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss and a team of his staffers will be visiting polling places and elections committee headquarters throughout Israel during election day. The tour was scheduled to start in Akko (Acre) at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 5:30 p.m. in the Central Elections Headquarters set up in Jerusalem's National Convention Center.

Among the municipalities Lindenstrauss will visit are Shefaram, Hadera, Netanya and towns in the Tel Aviv region. State Comptroller's Office spokespeople said that the objective of their efforts is to quickly identify potential problems with the voting process, and to provide immediate and effective solutions in real time.