After Israel’s election: What’s next?
Knesset member Ofer Cassif argues that the ‘politics of exclusion’ keep Israel in political deadlock.
The recent Israeli election left leaders in a deadlock, but voters remained active. Turnout surged, with nearly 40% of seats in the next Knesset occupied by first-time MKs. The coalition arithmetic proved deadlocked, despite this movement.
In the Arab sector, voter participation soared from 53% in 2022 to 77% in the current election, a 24 percentage point increase. This surge helped the two Arab lists, Ra'am and Joint List, nearly double their combined representation from 10 seats to 19. However, even this significant rise fell short of the Arab sector's demographic electoral weight, which is roughly 22 Knesset seats.
Haredi voters, accounting for about 10.5% of eligible voters, won 13 seats, matching their share. However, the haredi parties saw contrasting results - seven seats for United Torah Judaism and six for Shas. Shas, which had 11 seats in the previous Knesset, suffered a major setback, losing nearly 100,000 votes and its worst showing since 1992.
The draft issue and opposition to conscription played a significant role in Shas' loss. Similarly, other parties like Ofer Winter and Yoaz Hendel faced electoral setbacks. Overall, nearly a million more people cast ballots this time, boosting turnout to nearly 78%, the highest since 1999.
Despite a rise in votes, parties like Likud lost seats. Their vote total increased by 52,000, but they dropped from 32 to 27 seats due to the larger voter pool having a smaller share of the vote. The threshold for seat allocation is set by votes cast for parties crossing the 3.25% mark. This affected parties like Likud, who needed a significant increase in votes to maintain their seat count.
The election resulted in a diverse Knesset, with 47 newcomers never serving before. Many of these newcomers were directly impacted by October 7 and the ensuing war, including bereaved parents, hostages' relatives, wounded soldiers, and veterans. Their experiences led to a renewed political landscape, with parties like Yashar, B'Yachad, and the Joint List achieving significant representation.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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