Israel votes in fifth election in four years
Israelis will cast ballots on Tuesday in yet another national election intended to break the nation’s protracted political impasse, making it the unprecedented fifth time in four years that they will have done so.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not running for reelection for the first time in 13 years. As the leader of a hard-right coalition, Bibi, as he is known throughout Israel, hopes to recover the presidency, while Yair Lapid, the acting prime minister, is a moderate who wants to hold onto his position.
However, if the final polls are accurate, it appears unlikely that this round of voting will be any more successful than the previous four in breaking the impasse. According to the surveys, Netanyahu’s bloc will lack a parliamentary majority by one seat.
The possibility of a Netanyahu-led government is one of the key issues in this election, just like it was in the previous four. This is especially true now that his corruption trial is still pending. A quarter of respondents to an August poll by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) stated the identity of the party leader they were supporting was the second most important consideration in their decision to vote.
Israelis are also particularly concerned about the cost of living as a result of this year’s sharp increases in their power and grocery costs. In the same IDI survey, 44% of respondents indicated that their top concern was how a party’s economic strategy would lower living expenses.
Additionally, voters are concerned about security, a constant concern in Israeli politics, as 2022 was the worst year since 2015 for conflict-related deaths among Israelis and Palestinians.
