As for the coronavirus pandemic, Netanyahu, like many leaders, has struggled to balance public health with economic imperatives, but by making a bet on vaccination looks, Israel’s position seems stronger than most in terms of it arises from the pandemic.
This time, the prime minister is facing a particularly wide range of opponents, and opinion polls suggest that thirteen parties could exceed the election threshold and ensure 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 joining his Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party in 2012, is reportedly on course for a clear second place to finish.
Two other key figures in this election are former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the Yamina party, and Gideon Saar, leader of New Hope. Both are right-wing, seen as ideologically in line with Netanyahu, but with one clear distinction between them. Saar, like Lapid, ruled out joining the Likud leader in any government after the election; Bennett was more careful about what he would do, which made him the potential kingmaker of this election.
Israeli governments are always coalition arrangements, so smaller parties can have a decisive impact. Netanyahu will be looking for strong action from the two main religious parties representing the ultra-Orthodox communities – both saying they will remain allied with Likud after the election. In addition, the Israeli leader can confidently feel that he has the support of the far-right party of Religious Zionism. Polls suggest that this group – which includes followers of the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose own political party was banned from the Knesset in the 1980s because of racist ties from the Knesset – is on track to exceed the election threshold and four or even five to win seats.
“I never believed Netanyahu, but I was willing to work with him for the benefit of the country,” Gantz said after the collapse of the government, adding later: “I shake the hand of a serial breaker of promise. I shook his hand because the state of Israel was waging war [with the coronavirus], and I’m above all a soldier. I was wrong. “
One of the more striking aspects of this election campaign was Netanyahu’s efforts to win 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 in large numbers to the polls” to motivate his Likud base to vote and vote. This time, however, he produced campaign material in which voters in Arab declared their support for ‘Abu Yair’, the father of Yair, and expressed his coronavirus vaccine performance. Private lawmakers from Arab parties concede that the campaign was effective.
The joint list, an alliance of three predominantly Arab parties committed to ousting Netanyahu, is expected to be in the vicinity of eight seats. The United Arab List, which was split from the joint list in February, will hope to exceed the four-seat election threshold. Its leader, Mansour Abbas, took an easy stand in this campaign and hinted that he could offer the prime minister some form of support in coalition talks in exchange for financial commitments that benefit the Arab minority of 20% in favor of the country will be.
Voting closes at 22:00 (16:00 ET). TV networks publish projected results almost immediately based on exit polls, but it will probably take a few days before final results are known. Since several parties voted near the election threshold, it is quite possible that some of them will not succeed in gaining any seats after all the votes have been counted, which in turn could have a major impact on the possibilities there are parties if they wants to build a coalition of at least 61 seats.
And if the election does not produce a viable coalition, the Israelites could return to the ballot box by the end of the year.