My analysis of the Israeli elections of 2019
The Israeli elections of 2019 proved to be a disappointment for those wishing to oust Israel's controversial Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has recently been indicted by Israel's attorney general on corruption charges.
The centrist Blue and White Alliance (blue and white being the colours of the Israeli flag) formed from a coalition of made sweeping gains, but narrowly missed out on pole position. Likud, the main conservative party of Israel, managed to gain seats at the expense of some of its partners, bringing its seat total of 36 with 26.46% of the vote. The Blue and White Alliance narrowly finished behind Likud with 35 seats and with 26.13% of the vote, which nevertheless meant it more than trebled the seat total its component parties achieved in 2015. The 3.25% threshold for entry to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, has made political alliances increasingly necessary with many different demographic interests in Israel.
The Israeli Labor Party was the biggest loser of this election by far. They dropped to 6 seats and sixth place in the poll, their worst ever result in any Knesset election. A lot of their moderate support was lost to the Blue and White Alliance, but remarks from its leader, Avi Gadday, about an "undivided Jerusalem" being more important than a political settlement with the Palestinians also cost it crucial support in Tel Aviv, generally more supportive of Labor in Israeli elections than the Israeli capital of Jerusalem. The green-minded and progressive Meretz also lost one seat, and had it lost further votes it could have been eliminated from the Knesset (it polled 3.63%, only 0.38% above the minimum threshold). The centrist Kulanu Party lost much of its support to the Blue and White Alliance, whose economic platform is relatively similar, but still retained 4 seats, the minimum any party in the Knesset can have as a result of the minimum threshold. The Gesher Party, whose primary focus was about reducing inequalities, failed to win a single seat with just 1.73%.
On the more traditional and conservative side of the Israeli political spectrum, the more orthodox parties ,Shas and United Torah Judaism, both gained seats whist the more secular conservative and nationalist parties, Yisraeli Beitenu and United Right, lost seats. In particular, the New Right party missed out on representation by just 0.03%, losing all 3 seats. This also means that notable hardline Zionist Naftali Bennett is no longer in the Knesset.
The dissolution of the Joint List, which in 2015 united parties representing Arab interests in Israel, proved to be detrimental to the parties who ran on that list. The more socialist Hadash-Ta'al alliance retained the six seats it had via the Joint List, but the United Arab List-Balad alliance was reduced to 4 seats and only just avoided losing all Knesset representation with 3.34% of the vote, effectively representing a setback for proponents of a two state solution.
Of the other parties who failed to obtain seats in the Knesset, the libertarian Zehut party came closest with 2.74% of the vote, although its one state solution for Israel can be considered contradictory to its many libertarian values and this cost it the votes it needed to gain Knesset seats. The wooden spoon award for this Israeli election went to direct democracy party Brit Olam, who polled just 216 votes (0.01%); three other parties, Reform, New Horizon and Yachad withdrew from the election before polling day.
Although the conservative bloc has retained enough seats to keep Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister at present, the indictment against Benjamin Netanyahu is still ongoing at this time of writing. If convicted of the bribery and fraud charges brought against him, he will undoubtedly be removed from office and in all likelihood the Likud-led coalition would subsequently collapse, meaning that Blue and White's leader Benny Gantz could potentially become Prime Minister of Israel. The heavy seat losses Labor sustained may mean that as with its Irish counterpart, it may never again become a significant power player in Israeli politics.
The centrist Blue and White Alliance (blue and white being the colours of the Israeli flag) formed from a coalition of made sweeping gains, but narrowly missed out on pole position. Likud, the main conservative party of Israel, managed to gain seats at the expense of some of its partners, bringing its seat total of 36 with 26.46% of the vote. The Blue and White Alliance narrowly finished behind Likud with 35 seats and with 26.13% of the vote, which nevertheless meant it more than trebled the seat total its component parties achieved in 2015. The 3.25% threshold for entry to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, has made political alliances increasingly necessary with many different demographic interests in Israel.
The Israeli Labor Party was the biggest loser of this election by far. They dropped to 6 seats and sixth place in the poll, their worst ever result in any Knesset election. A lot of their moderate support was lost to the Blue and White Alliance, but remarks from its leader, Avi Gadday, about an "undivided Jerusalem" being more important than a political settlement with the Palestinians also cost it crucial support in Tel Aviv, generally more supportive of Labor in Israeli elections than the Israeli capital of Jerusalem. The green-minded and progressive Meretz also lost one seat, and had it lost further votes it could have been eliminated from the Knesset (it polled 3.63%, only 0.38% above the minimum threshold). The centrist Kulanu Party lost much of its support to the Blue and White Alliance, whose economic platform is relatively similar, but still retained 4 seats, the minimum any party in the Knesset can have as a result of the minimum threshold. The Gesher Party, whose primary focus was about reducing inequalities, failed to win a single seat with just 1.73%.
On the more traditional and conservative side of the Israeli political spectrum, the more orthodox parties ,Shas and United Torah Judaism, both gained seats whist the more secular conservative and nationalist parties, Yisraeli Beitenu and United Right, lost seats. In particular, the New Right party missed out on representation by just 0.03%, losing all 3 seats. This also means that notable hardline Zionist Naftali Bennett is no longer in the Knesset.
The dissolution of the Joint List, which in 2015 united parties representing Arab interests in Israel, proved to be detrimental to the parties who ran on that list. The more socialist Hadash-Ta'al alliance retained the six seats it had via the Joint List, but the United Arab List-Balad alliance was reduced to 4 seats and only just avoided losing all Knesset representation with 3.34% of the vote, effectively representing a setback for proponents of a two state solution.
Of the other parties who failed to obtain seats in the Knesset, the libertarian Zehut party came closest with 2.74% of the vote, although its one state solution for Israel can be considered contradictory to its many libertarian values and this cost it the votes it needed to gain Knesset seats. The wooden spoon award for this Israeli election went to direct democracy party Brit Olam, who polled just 216 votes (0.01%); three other parties, Reform, New Horizon and Yachad withdrew from the election before polling day.
Although the conservative bloc has retained enough seats to keep Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister at present, the indictment against Benjamin Netanyahu is still ongoing at this time of writing. If convicted of the bribery and fraud charges brought against him, he will undoubtedly be removed from office and in all likelihood the Likud-led coalition would subsequently collapse, meaning that Blue and White's leader Benny Gantz could potentially become Prime Minister of Israel. The heavy seat losses Labor sustained may mean that as with its Irish counterpart, it may never again become a significant power player in Israeli politics.
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