Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

Israelis vote for parliament again, but strong coalition unlikely

Israelis vote for parliament again, but strong coalition unlikely

Voters are heading to the polls for the fifth time in three and a half years, but the country remains divided.

Israelis are back at the polls to vote in parliamentary elections for the fifth time in just three and a half years, with the race expected to be close between supporters of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents.

It is unlikely, however, that either side will be able to command a large majority in the 120-seat parliament, with pre-election polls predicting a tight race.

Voting started at 7am local time (05:00 GMT) on Tuesday and will carry on until 10pm, giving the nearly 6.8 million people who have the right to vote plenty of opportunity to cast their vote.

“Is it the fourth or the fifth or the sixth election – I can’t keep track,” Yochi Hadad-Klapholtz, a mother of three in Jerusalem, told Al Jazeera, highlighting the dysfunctional nature of Israeli politics in the past few years.

The elections are the result of the collapse of the previous government and the dissolution of parliament in June after defections from the governing coalition made former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s position untenable.




That coalition, currently led by Yair Lapid, was formed by an unlikely combination of parties with conflicting views on everything from state and religion to the Israeli occupation and Palestinian statehood, LGBTQ rights, and economic policies.

What has united them was their fierce opposition to Netanyahu, who had served as prime minister for 12 years and is on trial for alleged bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

Netanyahu is keen to pass legislation that will prevent him from being tried.

In the previous election, held in March 2021, he midwifed a joint slate between two far-right Jewish politicians, which helped one of them, Itamar Ben Gvir, to get into the parliament, also known as the Knesset.

The other, Bezalel Smotrich, was already in parliament.

Smotrich has promised to legislate the removal of the offence of fraud and breach of trust from the criminal code if Netanyahu becomes prime minister.

He and Ben Gvir have also promised to strip the High Court of Justice of its ability to strike down unconstitutional laws. Ben Gvir plans to legislate a bill that would potentially expel Palestinian citizens of Israel not deemed “loyal” to the state.

Polls have suggested that Netanyahu’s far-right bloc may get 60 seats, with Lapid’s on 56.

The remaining four seats are expected to go to the Hadash-Ta’al Palestinian slate, which will only back Lapid if he agrees to certain conditions, including repealing the Jewish Nation-State Law, which enshrines Jewish supremacy over Palestinian citizens of Israel, and repealing the Kaminitz Law, which severely penalises Palestinian citizens of Israel for unauthorised construction and increases home demolitions.

In what might be a gesture towards the Hadash-Ta’al faction, Lapid said last week he intends to amend the contentious Jewish Nation-State Law.

Israel’s electoral system is based on nation-wide proportional representation, and the number of seatrs every list receives in the Knesset is proportional to the number of people who voted for it.

The only limitation is the qualifying threshold of 3.25 percent of the total votes, the equivalent of four seats.

Three of the parties opposing Netanyahu, the Zionist left-wing Meretz party, the conservative Islamic Ra’am party and Hadash-Ta’al, may struggle to pass the threshold, leaving Lapid with no hope of forming a government.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×