Late Monday night, a jubilant crowd of Likud supporters in a Tel Aviv hall waited for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare victory. But, given the inconclusive results, their bullishness was perhaps mystifying.
The central issue in this election — and the past two — was Bibi. He leads a right-wing bloc consisting of his Likud party, Yamina and the two main ultra-orthodox parties. Based on last-minute polling over the weekend, this cluster was expected to command 58 of the 120 Knesset mandates . Fourteen of those 54 seats are held by the third largest party in Israel — the Arab Joint List. Of nine million Israeli citizens, 20 per cent are Arabs .
Just as the possibility of an anti-Israel Knesset member sitting on the Security Cabinet scares the bejeezus out of most Israelis, so the notion of supporting a “Zionist” government is anathema to pretty much every member of the Joint List. His position resonates strongly with most Israelis who have articulated a clear preference in serial polls: that Likud and Blue and White should form a unity government without the ultra-orthodox, anti-Israel and other fringe interests.
With the numbers as they are, Israel has been through three elections and is in the same place as it was a year ago. In spite of coronavirus fears and election fatigue, voter turnout was up two per cent from the September vote, a testament to Israeli political engagement. But the stalemate remains.
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