Elections

Between triumph and failure lay only six weeks: On the night of April 9, 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu was celebrating with his followers as the shining winner of the Israeli parliamentary election. Once again, Netanyahu seemed to have made it, despite allegations of corruption and a broad-based opposition campaign against the continuation of the Israeli Prime Minister's right-wing coalition. On May 30, however, Netanyahu had to admit his failure –  he had failed to forge a viable coalition within the six-week deadline. In order to prevent the Israeli president from giving the opposition candidate the task of forming a government, the newly established Israeli parliament (the 21st Knesset) dissolved in a Likud led maneuver just before Netanyahu’s deadline and voted for new elections on September 17, 2019.

A ‘Local Call’ poll shows a broad range of areas where Jews and Arabs see the benefits of cooperation. But that doesn’t mean Jewish Israelis are ready to let Arabs hold positions of power, namely joining the government. The surprising bit: most Arabs would support their parties joining an Israeli government.

The 2019 Israeli elections will be determined on the issue of how many right-wing parties pass the 3.25% threshold and what their relative strength will be vis-à-vis the left bloc. Who are the rightwing parties, how did the religious and ultra-religious parties become “the natural partners” of Netanyahu's ruling Likud party, and what is the subtle interplay between them in view of the 2019 elections?

Based on international comparisons, Israel is in a 'good' spot in the middle. The number of women in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, reached a record high last year, but even then they accounted for only 30% of all Knesset Members (34 out of the 120 Knesset members). The first quarter of 2019 catches Israel at the height of an election campaign. However, it is already projected that following the elections the number of women Members of Knesset will be even lower. And, as everyone knows, the head count tells only part of the story.

April 9, 2019, is the date set for elections to State of Israel’s 21st Knesset. These elections are important and challenging from many aspects, but this article will focus mainly on the perspective of the Arab minority within the Israeli citizenry. This group constitutes approximately one fifth of the state’s citizens and approximately 16.5% of eligible voters.

A prerequisite for democratic rule is a realistic chance of power change. The path to power change in Israeli politics, the widely held belief suggests, is passing through the centrist parties. Is being a ‘centrist’ party merely a strategic position on the Left-Right axis? What does this position mean ideologically? Why is power change that comes from the center short-lived? And what does all this entail for Israeli democracy, in the context of the 2019 election?

"You have hurt the image of public service and public faith in it. You acted in a conflict of interests, you abused your authority while taking into account other considerations that relate to your personal interests and the interests of your family. You corrupted public servants working under you." These statements encapsulate the allegations in the severe draft of charge – or charge pending hearing – the Israeli attorney general sent Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu on February 27, 2019.

Prior to the March 17th elections, much of the public discourse was focused on the question as to whether the elections will bring about a political change in Israel. In the latest round of Jerusalem Talks, we discussed the future social and political opportunities for the Israeli society.

Over 200,000 people with no legal status live in Israel today. There are another 4 million in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All of these people are directly affected by Israeli elections but they have not right to vote. This is what they have to say — about the Right and the Left, the ‘demographic threat,’ peace, war, democracy and dictatorship (+972 Magazine).  

The ‘Zionist Camp’ needs the Arab parties in order to form a government. Its decision to vote for disqualifying Zoabi makes that support less and less likely (+972 Magazine).

Stav Shafir, the youngest Member of Knesset, scored a major political achievement last week, coming in second at the Labor Party primary elections. While many newly elected MKs tend to fade into the back rows of the opposition, Shafir, elected at age 27, has shined. (History Central) The following Interview does not formally represent an official endorsement or view of The Heinrich Böll Foundation Israel.

The German Election Campaign 2013 was focused on the alternative between the continuation of the conservative-liberal coalition of CDU and FDP or a renewed Red-Green alliance striving to bring the Green Party and the Social Democrats back into power. Both alternatives vanished into thin air on Sunday night. The Liberals did not meet the parliamentarian threshold of 5% and the Greens and Social Democrats were high below the overwhelming victory of Merkel’s conservative party alliance.      

The results of the elections to the 19th Knesset hold a potential for a significant change in the gender thinking of Israel’s legislative body. Out of 120 parliamentarians, 27 women will be serving in the Knesset - the largest number of women MKs since the establishment of the state. What are the necessary conditions for bringing this potential to fruition? Anat Saragusti outlines the gender dimension of the Knesset election results.