With the latest polls showing a close election competition between Benjamin Netanyahu and Yair Lapid, experts believe that Israel’s political crisis will very much likely continue even after the election.
According to a recent survey conducted on the potential results of Israel’s coming parliamentary elections, the competition between the camp of “Benjamin Netanyahu” and that of “Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz” is continuing quite intensively. This has made many experts to predict that even the coming election cannot resolve the ongoing political chaos in Israel.
Only a week before the election day in Israel, a poll reported by the Kan Bet Public Radio this Monday revealed that opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is expected to win 60 seats, one shy of a majority to form a government.
The poll also showed that the current coalition led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid could receive a total of 56 seats, four seats less than Netanyahu’s.
Regarding their own parties, the pool revealed that Netanyahu’s Likud party could win 31 seats and Lapid’s Yesh Atid party is predicted to receive 24 seats. This is while far-right Religious Zionism got 13 seats and the National Unity coalition led by Benny Gantz received 12 seats in the poll.
The survey was carried out by the Kantar Institute and Dudi Hasid. The population sample was men and women aged 18 and over who participated in the survey online or by phone, with a sampling error of 3.6 percent.
No hope for an end to Israel’s political crisis
Since Naftali Bennett stepped down as premier in June, saying his government was no longer tenable, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid took office and elections were called for November 1.
While the coalition’s collapse marked an apparent tactical victory for Netanyahu, Monday’s poll showed that he and his allies may once more struggle to secure a 61-seat majority in the Knesset.
The result of the above-mentioned poll is therefore an alarm for Netanyahu simply because he now knows that to win the election and to form a government thereafter, he would most probably need heavy backing from the country’s rising extreme-right to form a government. This is, however, not good news for Israel because it could have “disastrous effects” on the country’s democracy.
“This election is perhaps the most critical because Netanyahu has allied himself with a racist party, and this could be a disaster for Israeli democracy,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu held the office of Prime Ministry in Israel for nearly 15 years, a record in Israel’s 74-year history. But it was in June 2021 that he was ousted on a number of corruption charges against him. He was then investigated for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his inner circle.
But despite all these charges, all of which Netanyahu denies, and also despite Netanyahu’s failure to secure a majority government in four straight elections, he has vowed to make a comeback in the coming election and save Israel from political deadlock.
In his campaign, heavily promoted on social media, Netanyahu has focused on the high cost of living in Israel- a major issue for voters. Regarding corruption charges against him, Netanyahu says he has fallen victim to a political witch hunt, counting on the support of voters with little interest in the legal details of the judicial process.
All in all, whether 73-year-old Netanyahu can win this coming parliamentary race and form a government is a matter that next week’s election can shed light on.
