As for the coronavirus pandemic, Netanyahu, like many other leaders, struggled to strike a balance between public health and the economic imperatives, though Israel’s position, by taking a seemingly winning bet on getting vaccinations , seems stronger than most in terms of the origins of the pandemic.
This time, the prime minister is facing a particularly wide range of opponents, and polls suggest that as many as 13 parties could cross the electoral threshold and secure representation in the Knesset with 120 seats.
Centrist Yair Lapid, who once served as Netanyahu’s finance minister and was a leading TV news anchor before entering politics with his Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party in 2012, is on track to finish a clear second , according to all polls.
Two other key figures in this election are former Defense Secretary Naftali Bennett, leader of the Yamina party, and Gideon Saar, leader of New Hope. Both are right wingers, viewed as ideologically aligned with Netanyahu, but with one clear distinction between them. Saar, like Lapid, has ruled out joining the Likud leader in any government after the election; Bennett has been more careful about what he would do, making him the potential kingmaker of this election.
Israeli governments are always coalition arrangements, so smaller parties can have a decisive impact. Netanyahu will seek strong performances from the two main religious parties representing the ultra-Orthodox communities – both say they will remain an ally of Likud after the election. In addition, the Israeli leader can trust that he has the support of the far-right party for religious Zionism. Opinion polls show that this group – including followers of the extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose own political party was banned from the Knesset in the 1980s for racism – is on track to cross the electoral threshold and win four or even five seats.
“I never believed Netanyahu, but I was willing to work with him for the good of the country,” Gantz said after the government collapse, adding later, “I shook the hand of a serial pledge-breaker. shook his hand because the State of Israel was at war [with the coronavirus], and above all I am a soldier. I was wrong.”
One of the most striking aspects of this election campaign is Netanyahu’s attempts to gain support among Israel’s Arab voters. In previous campaigns he has been accused of trying to suppress their voice; on election day in 2015, he even made a video claiming that Arab voters were “moving en masse to polling stations” – to motivate his Likud base to vote. This time, however, he has produced campaign material with voters expressing their support in Arabic for “Abu Yair,” Yair’s father, who praised his achievements on coronavirus vaccines. Privately, lawmakers from Arab parties admit the campaign has been effective.
The Joint List, an alliance of three predominantly Arab parties committed to ousting Netanyahu, appears to be gaining eight seats in the region. The United Arab List, which split from the Joint List in February, hopes to cross the electoral threshold with four seats. Its leader Mansour Abbas has taken a quirky stance in this campaign, suggesting that he could offer the prime minister some form of support in coalition talks in exchange for financial pledges that would benefit the country’s 20% Arab minority.
The voting closes at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. ET). TV networks publish projected results based on exit polls almost immediately, but it will likely take several days for the final results to be known. Given that several parties have studied close to the electoral threshold, it is quite possible that some of them will not be able to secure seats after all votes have been counted, which in turn could have a major impact on the opportunities that exist for the major parties. parties because they want to build a coalition of at least 61 seats.
And if the election doesn’t produce a viable coalition, Israelis could trudge back to the polls by the end of the year.