On 23rd March, Israeli citizens voted in the country’s fourth election in two years. This short explainer gives an insight into how the elections work and what’s at stake.

What has happened with the election results so far?

As widely predicted, last week’s general election in Israel, the fourth since 2019, did not deliver a decisive result.

The President, Reuven Rivlin, is consulting the parties, and is expected, next week, to invite either Benjamin Netanyahu, incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the Likud party (30 seats), or Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party (17 seats), to attempt to form a government.

Netanyahu may appear the more likely to get the first shot, as leader of by far the largest party. However together, he and his allies, have fallen considerably short (52 seats) of the necessary 61 seats required to ‘command’ a majority in the Knesset (61 votes).

Together with left and centre parties, Yair Lapid’s party also falls short (57).  

The balance between the two main blocs is held by two very different and as yet unaligned parties – the right-wing (some would say ultra-right-wing) party Yamina (7 seats) led by Naftali Bennet: and the Islamist United Arab List (UAL - 4 seats) led by Mansour Abbas.

Forming a government is going to be challenging for either bloc.

For Netanyahu to form a government he would appear to need support from Naftali Bennet and Mansour Abbas/UAL; Bennet has ruled out joining a government with UAL in it.  An alternative is for Netanyahu to persuade another party, or parties, in the left/centrist bloc to join forces with Likud, and his allies on the right, (and possibly UAL),  in order to form a coalition government.  

For Lapid,  together with Yesh Atid’s left and centre allies, to form a government, he needs one of the two unaligned parties – in reality this means the Islamist Arab party - the United Arab List (UAL) - to achieve the 61 Knesset votes required.

This is going to be a long negotiation. We will post another briefing when the dust has settled.

When are the elections and what are they for?

A general election was held in Israel on March 23rd. During this election members of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) were elected. The party leader most likely to be able to form a government will be invited by President Rivlin to begin negotiations to that end.

When were the last elections held?

The last elections were held in March 2020 resulting in a Government of National Unity formed by the two main blocks – the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu  and the Blue and White list, led Benny Gantz, neither of whom had enough seats in the Knesset to form their own coalition.   Netanyahu and Gantz agreed to take turns as Prime Minister over a three year period, beginning with Netanyahu.

The March 2020 election followed two inconclusive elections held in April and September 2019. Both led to political deadlock and the failure to form stable coalition government.

The forthcoming general election was called when the National Unity Government was unable to push a budget through the Knesset by the December 2020 deadline, thereby automatically triggering new elections within 90 days. 

What’s at stake?

The main parties, and their leaders, hope to be able to form a Coalition government capable of commanding 61, or more, votes in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), out of a total of 120 Knesset members.   Governments in Israel are invariably coalitions made up of multiple parties.  The formation of a government often takes months, involving hard negotiations between potential coalition members (or what some would call political horse-trading).

39 parties are presenting candidates for election in March 2021.  To win a seat a party must clear a threshold of 3.25% of the vote.  Votes are cast for parties, not individual candidates (this is called voting for a list), and seats allocated by a form of proportional representation.  

To increase their chances of winning seats parties may form alliances and run on a joint ticket.  In the last parliament, 13 parties won seats.

Front runners at present for the role of Prime Minister, leading a Coalition government, include overwhelming favourite Benjamin Netanyahu, incumbent Prime Minister since 2009 and (having previously served as PM for 3 years 1996-1999) the longest serving Israeli Prime Minister in history; Naftali Bennett leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party (which joined forces with Benny Gantz’ party in the last election); and Benny Gantz leader of the Blue and White party.

It is worth noting the striking success at the last election of the Joint List, led by Aymen Odeh, a Palestinian Israeli. This list traditionally represents the interests of Palestinian and Arab Israelis. However it attracted unusual support from Jewish Israelis in 2020, winning an unprecedented 11 seats. This made the Joint List a key player in coalition negotiations, a status usually enjoyed by smaller religious, and right wing, parties. 

Who can vote?

Israeli citizens have a vote, wherever they live. 

Some Israeli citizens live in occupied East Jerusalem, the part of Jerusalem first occupied by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.  Prior to that, and since 1948, East Jerusalem was considered Palestinian territory, administered by Jordan.  These Israeli citizens have a vote. 

Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens, living in East Jerusalem, cannot vote in an Israeli national election, but can vote in local municipal elections (though many choose not to).

Israeli citizens living in settlements on the West Bank (occupied Palestinian territory), which are considered illegal under international law, have a vote.

What should we hope for?

It is not for Embrace to try to influence the outcome of democratic elections but it is reasonable for anyone, and everyone, to hope, pray and - where appropriate - work for outcomes to the elections this year that will bring peace, justice, respect for human rights and hope for the future, for all concerned.  The stakes are very high because the suffering of many is acute, and has been for far too long.