JERUSALEM — Israelis began casting their votes Tuesday in a fiercely fought election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is battling for political survival after more than a decade in power
Voting sites opened at 7 a.m., with final opinion polls giving an edge to the party led by Netanyahu’s main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz. By noon, the Central Elections Committee released figures showing that less than 24 percent of the population had voted, a slight drop over the same time in the previous elections in 2015. Polls will remain open until 10 p.m.
While the polls suggest that Gantz’s party will win the most seats in parliament, Netanyahu still seems to be in a stronger position to assemble a governing coalition, which is what ultimately matters.
For many Israelis, it boils down to one question: Should Netanyahu stay or go?
“Let’s make this happen,” said Gantz, as he voted in his hometown of Rosh Haayin, near Tel Aviv.
In a campaign waged largely over social media, Netanyahu has kept the race tight despite facing corruption allegations. Israel’s attorney general announced in February that he planned to indict the prime minister in three criminal cases, pending a hearing in which Netanyahu can defend himself.
If he wins a new term and remains in office past July, Netanyahu will become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the 13 years and 127 days of Israel’s founding father, David Ben-Gurion.
Trying to prevent that is Gantz, a 59-year-old who is making his political debut. In a highly polarized political scene, Gantz has been running on a message of unity, stressing that he is of neither the left nor the right. Netanyahu has branded him a “leftist” from the outset.
Gantz’s message may have resonated with Israelis who are weary of Netanyahu’s leadership and concerned about questions of impropriety, but the challenger has stumbled in television interviews and has been criticized as wooden, especially in comparison to Netanyahu’s polished performances.
“To replace or not to replace, that is the question,” veteran Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea wrote in his column in the popular daily Yedioth Ahronoth. “That question, which has become a cliche, is completely accurate; these elections are a referendum on Netanyahu.”
In the town of Mevasseret Zion, just outside Jerusalem, Michael Livny and his wife, Nili Livny, said they wanted anyone but Netanyahu to win.
“Hopefully there will be a change today,” said Michael Livny, a doctor. “I don’t really care who comes in his place. I just don’t want a crook as my leader anymore.”
“We also don’t want a right-wing government again, one that appeases the ultra-Orthodox,” said Nili Livny, who manages her husband’s medical clinic. “We feel a tiny glimmer of hope that it might change, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Hodaya Khalaf, 25, said she was also hoping for change but wants to see an increase in religious voices and right-wing representation in the government.
“I want people in the government who know that Israel is ours, that are not confused, that don’t care what people are saying about us outside of Israel and who will not let the Arabs do whatever they want here,” said the mother of two, who works as a teacher.
Khalaf said she was voting for the alliance of right-wing parties, which include the controversial Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, faction. Many view the hard-line group as inspired by Meir Kahane, an ultranationalist American Israeli rabbi who was banned from Israeli politics for racist opinions and whose Kach Party was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
“If I could have done, I would have voted for Jewish Power on their own,” said Khalaf.
Another voter, Marcel Suissa, dismissed all the other options and said she voted for Netanyahu.
“There is just no one else who can do what he does for this country,” she said. “That is why I like him.”
Netanyahu has tried to drive home the message that he is capable of leading Israel as no one else can. He takes credit for winning U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and of Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights. He also highlights his close relationship with President Trump and his effort to boost ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He has convinced people that he is irreplaceable and that no one else comes even near to him,” said Gideon Rahat, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “That is the secret to his power.”
Netanyahu has also long sold himself to the Israeli electorate on the basis of his strong record on security. But his rival party this time contains three former military chiefs of staff.
[Israel’s high-stakes elections: What you need to know as Netanyahu faces his toughest test]
Both Gantz and Netanyahu have ramped up their campaigns as they try to win over the undecided. For Gantz, that means telling supporters that he is on the cusp of victory. Netanyahu’s strategy has been to whip up fears that he might lose.
“We are one foot away from victory,” Gantz told the crowd gathered in Tel Aviv for his last campaign rally Monday. “We need two more seats, just a few tens of thousands of votes more. Nothing is more important than joining us.”
Netanyahu made his final pleas in Jerusalem’s market, to chants of his nickname “Bibi” alongside a bit of heckling.
“It’s not in our pocket,” he warned. “Some of our people are complacent and believe the media, which is trying to put them to sleep.”
In Israel’s fragmented political landscape, with about 40 separate parties fielding candidates, what matters most is who can garner enough support in the 120-seat parliament, or Knesset, to form a majority of at least 61 seats.
Netanyahu’s warnings that he may be unable to do that are part of what the Israeli media has dubbed his “oy gevalt” campaign, referring to an expression of alarm in Yiddish. He is trying to pull votes away from smaller right-wing parties by telling their supporters that there might not be a right-wing government at all if they don’t vote for his Likud party.
Netanyahu used the “gevalt” strategy effectively in 2015, when polls had shown him trailing significantly. He turned things around and won by six seats.
One risk of that strategy is that smaller right-wing parties may fail to pass the necessary vote threshold, potentially depriving Netanyahu of coalition partners.
In a move that was widely read as a bid to win more votes from the right, Netanyahu last week promised to begin to apply Israeli sovereignty to settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal by most of the international community.
Until then questions related to the peace process with the Palestinians, or lack of it, had been largely absent from the campaign. The West Bank is home to around 450,000 settlers who live among more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
In 2015 he was also criticized by many Israelis for his last-minute warning on election day that Arabs were “flocking to the polls.” A healthy turnout among Arab Israelis, who make up 20 percent of the population, has the potential to block Netanyahu from being able to form a coalition.
This time, he’s used a similar strategy from the outset, persistently warning that the only way that Gantz can win is through a coalition with Arab-majority parties. Though they have traditionally abstained from backing any candidate, they could also play a significant role if they choose to recommend Gantz.
Also tipped as a potential kingmaker is Moshe Feiglin, a libertarian ultranationalist who looks set to make it into the Knesset after gaining popularity with a pledge to legalize marijuana.
In the days after the election, based on recommendations from parties that have won Knesset seats, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will nominate the leader of the party with the majority of support to try to form a government.
A potential complication could arise if Gantz wins a significant majority but does not have enough support from other parties to form a governing coalition. Polls suggest that such a scenario is possible.
“If Gantz’s party is significantly ahead but can’t make a coalition, then the president faces a conundrum,” said Reuven Hazan, a political science professor at Hebrew University. The president can delay for up to seven days to give him a chance to build support, he said. “But the name of the game is forming a majority.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israeli-elections-to-decide-netanyahus-fateas-voters-head-to-the-polls/2019/04/08/df9859b2-5a18-11e9-98d4-844088d135f2_story.html
2019-04-09 11:45:13Z
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