The results of Israeli elections 2013 spell one of the narrowest gaps ever noted between the Right and Center-Left blocs in the Knesset – both blocs are about tie and one aspect is that Three Arab parties got 12 members to new Knesset. Now PM Netanyahu has a complex political reality and now stands before a difficult task: creating a stable coalition.
Israel’s 2013 election saw record voter turnout. According to the Central Election Committee, 66.6% of Israelis exercised their right to vote,a turnout of 4 percent more than in the 2009 elections and the highest since 1999.And results are following (My main source is ):
The next government?
The first scenario for PM Netanyahu is the formation of a narrow right-wing government including his natural partners: Habayit Hayehudi led by Naftali Bennett and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and UTJ. Besides this alternative is narrow and thus fragile also PM Netanyahu’s wife – Sara – for personal reasons will push to exclude Bennett from the coalition.
A second scenario is the creation of a Right-Center government (Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua and Shaul Mofaz’s Kadima) excluding the ultra-Orthodox parties. Still, sources close to Netanyahu say that he fears forming a coalition without the ultra-Orthodox, considered in his eyes and despite everything, natural partners and political allies.
The best scenario for Netanyahu is forming an broad government with his natural right-wing partners and the Center-Left bloc. In this case, size could also be a disadvantage and Netanyahu will struggle to set common guidelines for all coalition members.
One scenario is to form government without Netanyahu and his Likud-Beiteinu. This Left-Center-haredi government could be led by Yair Lapid who anyway is the big winner of elections.
The bottom line
Personally I expected a bit better result for Labor due the voter turnout. The predicted victory for Bennet stayed slim but the excellent result of reporter Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) was a surprice at least for me. In overall the outcome is interesting while it gives many alternatives to PM Netanyahu to form his next government.
My previous article about this topic