Israel election: Netanyahu seeks to stay in power as country votes again

Israelis are voting in an unprecedented fourth election in two years that many see as a referendum on the country’s divisive long-term leader.

Benjamin Netanyahu called the vote a “festival of democracy” despite fears the result would once again be inconclusive – prolonging the country’s political deadlock.

At least 6.5 million Israelis are registered to vote, but many citizens were bracing themselves for the spectre of a fifth extraordinary election because the last polls predicted no win for any side.

Mr Netanayhu, who is currently standing trial on corruption charges he vehemently denies, was upbeat as he voted in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning urging others to “vote, vote, vote”. He said he hoped that Tuesday was “the last election”.

Nearly 14,000 polling stations opened at 7am (5am GMT) across the country, several thousand more than previous elections to prevent crowding in the pandemic, Israeli media reported. More than 829,000 people have been infected with the virus since the pandemic hit Israel’s shores while over 6,100 have died.

The authorities set up special shuttle services for those who are Covid-positive to ferry them to mobile voting booths. Voters were even photographed casting their ballots from their hospital beds as medics in full PPE lugged ballot boxes from ward to ward. Voting will close at 10pm (8pm GMT), when exit polls will likely point to voting trends rather than a clear winner because of the tight race. 

“I think this is just another reshuffling of the cards, again and again [we are all] sitting at the same table not happy with the cards,” said Oded, 40, a frustrated voter in Raanana, near Tel Aviv, who once again feared the outcome would be roughly the same as last time.

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“I think people are now getting desperate in Israel,” he added.

Similar frustrations were voiced by other voters like Chen Zilka, 20, who was handing out flyers in Tel Aviv for Gideon Saar, who defected from Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party to set up his own New Hope party. Mr Saar has presented himself as the only credible right-wing alternative to Mr Netanyahu, and Zilka hopes he could rally enough support to prevent yet another election.

“I believe [Saar] will lead us into a new start. I voted for Netanyahu for the last three elections and this time I want a new start and a fresh government,” she said. “He’s been in power too long and we need a change. I believe Gideon Saar is the only politician with real ministerial experience and I trust him.”

As voting started Mr Netanyahu urged the country to vote for his party Likud saying just two additional seats in parliament could secure a strong-right wing government “without rotation and without another election”.

“Bring three friends or family members to the polls to vote for Likud, and victory will be ours. I trust you and love you. Together we will win,” he tweeted.

While casting his ballot in Tel Aviv, Mr Netanyahu’s main contender Yair Lapid, a former finance minister who heads up the centrist Yesh Atid, warned there were two options a coalition led by his party or a “dark, dangerous, racist and homophobic government” if Mr Netanyahu wins. Gideon Saar said his party was the only one capable of bringing about change, as he voted.

In a passionate appeal to the Israeli electorate and political parties, the country’s President Reuven Rivlin, warned that four elections in just two years had “eroded public trust in the democratic process”. “I am voting today for the last time as president, but above all, I do so as a concerned citizen. Very concerned,” he said from the polling station in Jerusalem.  “Four elections in two years erode public trust in the democratic process, but only you can influence. There is no other way.”

Israel’s five-term prime minister Mr Netanyahu has struggled to bat off competition from rival nationalist and right-wing parties as he has campaigned under the shadow of a corruption trial and the pandemic. His critics have blamed him for failing to enforce lockdown restrictions on his ultra-Orthodox political allies, allowing the virus to spread, saying it has a disastrous impact on the economy and the now double-digit unemployment rate. His opponents also say he is unfit to rule because he is on trial for multiple corruption charges, which he has repeatedly dismissed as a left-wing witch hunt. 

Mr Netanyahu has focused his campaigning on his role in securing millions of vaccine doses from Pfizer Inc and turning Israel into what he dubbed a “vaccination nation”.

The country is leading the world in its inoculation programme with about half of Israelis already having received the jab, drawing international praise for Mr Netanyahu as well as calls for Israel to do more to ensure Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza receive vaccines. The vaccination programme has allowed the country to reopen much of its economy before the election. 

Posting a video on Twitter of his visit to a Jerusalem hospital on Monday, Mr Netanyahu wrote: “Today we are the first in the world to return to life and smile again.”

Tuesday is Israel’s fourth election in just two years, as political parties have failed to singlehandedly sweep a majority of the 120 seats in the Knesset or build lasting coalitions that can push over the 60 seat majority threshold. 

There were concerns it might create voter fatigue but by 10am local time turn out had hit 14.8 percent which was actually higher than March 2020 election.

The results could be even more inconclusive after polling stations close this evening as up to 15 per cent of the electorate is expected to vote outside their home districts in absentee ballots. These results will be tallied separately in Jerusalem and may not be known for days. 

Adding to the uncertainty of the outcome is the fact that at least four small parties - including Blue and White, once the largest party in parliament - may struggle to cross the 3.25 per cent threshold for entry into parliament. 

Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party hopes to form a ruling coalition with his traditional religious and hard-line nationalist allies, including a pair of ultra-Orthodox parties and a small religious party that includes openly racist and homophobic candidates. 

But the polls indicate that even with that he may not be able to cobble together enough seats to rule, and so the process of coalition building is expected to take weeks. 

He will likely have to woo smaller right-wing parties including Yamina, which is headed up by ex-defence minister Naftali Bennett, who according to the polls is expected to sweep around 11 seats but has so far declined to confirm whether he would join Mr Netanyahu or not. 

Unusually for the elections campaign trail, Mr Netanyahu had tried to court voters from the Arab communities in Israel, visiting several Arab towns and villages in the lead up to the polls while promising to combat violence and crime in their communities as the crime rate has risen.

Shahin Nasser, a voter and journalist from Haifa, told The Independent that there was concern of low turn out among Arab citizens. She said campaigning from the Arab majority parties like the Joint List, had started late and had been confused after breakaway party Raam was formed, adding that right-wing parties had “invested a lot in taking votes from the Arab community”.

Tuesday’s election was triggered by the disintegration of an emergency unity government formed last May between Mr Netanyahu and his chief rival Benny Gantz (of the Blue and White party). 

The two rivals together had struggled amid the coronavirus pandemic, as their unhappy alliance was plagued by infighting. The elections were finally triggered by the government’s failure in December to agree on a budget. 

Natalie Lisbona reported from Tel Aviv