Israeli Election Produces Yet Another Stalemate

30 Mar 2021 01:09 PM

EXPERT COMMENT

Israel’s latest election provides no salvation from political instability.

A fourth election in two years has yet again failed to produce a conclusive result. Some of the results form part of a consistent pattern, but there are also some unexpected twists that the pollsters had not foreseen which will prove crucial for the formation and composition of a coalition government.

Of the 13 parties that will serve in the Knesset, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party won 30 of the 120 seats up for grabs, followed by the centrist party Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid, which won 17 seats. There is also an array of smaller parties representing a range of interests, ideologies and sectors in Israeli society, from Jewish ultra-Orthodox to Islamist, from peace and human rights parties to the ultra-right xenophobic and homophobic Kahanist party. Naturally, this makes the task of forming a coalition – let alone one with a coherent agenda – an excruciating one. However, it is Netanyahu’s corruption trial on three cases of bribery, fraud and breach of trust that is the underlying cause of the current political deadlock.

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