2021 state budget debate Knesset PR pic
Israelis are set to go to the polls on Tuesday for the fifth time in just three years and a half years. The Knesset elections come only 18 months after the previous round was held in March 2021. Nothing like this has ever happened before in Israel’s brief history.
Dozens of parties are competing in the elections, but only a few will win Knesset seats. This is because a party must first receive no less than 3.25% of the vote on Election Day to pass the threshold for entering the Knesset. Any less – even by just one vote – and the party’s votes are all disqualified. The parties that pass this threshold then receive seats in the Knesset based on their percentage of all of the remaining votes.
So, a party that gets 4% of the vote on election day – or about 5 seats in the Knesset – could end up with 5% of the votes that “count” and get 6 seats.
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The parties that no one is even talking about in the news include all of the ones that succeeded in getting registered for the elections but will be lucky to get more than a few votes each. These include parties with silly names like “Biblical Bloc Party,” “Burning Young,” “Jewish Heart,” “Environment & Animal Voice,” and many more.
There is even a “Pirate” party. Apparently, there are Israelis who want to set to sea and raid foreign shipping for treasure.
Then there are the parties that are currently in the Knesset but are polling below the minimum threshold to return. This includes the right-wing Yamina party led by Ayelet Shaked. Once a kingmaker in Israeli politics, the party lost its base of support by entering into a broad coalition government together with left-wing and Arab parties in 2021. Its leader, Naftali Bennett, did get to be the Prime Minister. But he has now quit politics.
Two Arab parties – Ra’am and Hadash-Tal – are on the cusp, but depending on the poll are in danger of not crossing the threshold. And a third falls well below the threshold.
This leaves Israel with 9 other major parties that are currently represented in the Knesset and that will return, with no new parties getting in for the first time.
These parties are currently split into 2 major blocks: the Netanyahu right-wing block and the anti-Netanyahu block.
Against Netanyahu are 5 parties. These include the left-wing Labor and Meretz parties, the moderate Blue and White Party, a one-time right-wing party called Yisrael Beitenu (Israel our Home), and current Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s own Yesh Atid Party.
The Netanyahu block includes his own right-wing Likud Party, and the right-wing Religious Zionism party as well as 2 ultra-orthodox parties.
The polls have consistently shown Netanyahu’s block hovering around the 61 seats needed to form a government. They also show that it will be near impossible for Yair Lapid to form a new government. Lapid’s main hope is that Netanyahu’s side not break the 61-seat mark.
If no one can form a government then Israelis will head to the sixth round of voting in less than 4 years. While this costs the government millions in elections costs, and the economy millions as well from lost work, Israelis love it because election day is a holiday in Israel and a day off from work.
