Elections in Israel: Netanyahu seeks majority amid scrutiny with tight results

The progression of control does not reflect clear majorities in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) to form a government, pending the entry of a minor party whose support may allow or prevent political unblocking.

The Islamist party Raam, separated from the United Arab List, would exceed the electoral threshold, with a minimum of four MPs who could guarantee the majority of the parliamentary bloc, led by Netanyahu, or on the contrary, composed of a heterogeneous group of parties, d complex alliances.

The interim results also confirm Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid as the second most voted force. and the predictable good positioning of the center-left of the Labor Party and the Blue and White formation of Beny Gantz, who feared not to exceed the minimum threshold.

United Arab List would lose its seats, and Islamist Raam, who split from the coalition for these elections, would be expelled from parliament.

“Citizens of Israel, thank you! You gave a huge victory to the right and to Likud under my leadership.. (…) It is obvious that an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens are right-wing and want a right-wing, strong and stable government, “responded Netanyahu, who said he spoke with Bennett and” reached out to everyone. elected officials who believe in our principles, without excluding anyone ”.

After three very close elections, analysts have had a certain “electoral fatigue”. They were not wrong: The electoral commission announced a participation rate of 67.2%, 4.3 points lower than that of the elections of March 2020.

The full results of the vote will be known on Friday.

Then they will take place the feasts of Passover, the Jewish Passover, and later, President Reuven Rivlin will ask the new MPs to choose a candidate who can gather the majority of seats to lead the next government.

Netanyahu’s trump card for his election campaign was the deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that got Israel quickly, since the end of December, millions of doses of the vaccine against covid-19 in exchange for biomedical data on its effects.

The country has carried out one of the most intense vaccination campaigns in the world in recent weeks, administering the two necessary doses to nearly 50% of the population, or more than two-thirds of voters.

Despite the lack of sophistication and the reopening of stores, political parties were unable to organize large gatherings and the campaign developed on social networks.

Prime Minister opted for his vaccination campaign and the timid economic recovery, and the opposition tried to profit from Netanyahu’s trial for “corruption”, “embezzlement” and “abuse of power”, which started a few months ago and has fueled a movement of protests every Saturday across the country for 39 weeks.

On Saturday evening, thousands of people flocked to Jerusalem shouting “Yalla (come), get off Bibi” or “Bye Bye Bibi” (Goodbye Bibi). But for his supporters it is “Bibi, the king of Israel“.

From the Palestinian Gaza Strip, a rocket was fired at an Israeli town where Netanyahu was staying, but it landed on a wasteland and did not spoil election night.

In retaliation, at dawn, the Israeli army bombed positions of the terrorist group Hamas in the territory, according to a team from AFP on the spot.

Israel’s electoral commission expects to finish counting the votes of the regular centers this afternoon, but there are still 450,000 ballots, according to the digital Haaretz, calls for “double envelope”: diplomats, military and infected with the coronavirus and quarantined citizens.

The final results are not expected until Friday afternoon. The final turnout for these elections, the fourth in less than two years, was 67.2%, the lowest since 2013, with more than 4.4 million voters out of the 6.5 who were eligible. to vote.

With information from AFP and EFE

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