FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
The giant hourglass installed in the middle of Rabin Square in Tel Aviv indicates the passing of the hours and minutes until the ballot box closes. The sand falls and the politicians seem panicked all together: they warn the voters to take off the one left on their feet after a day at the beach and to go and vote. Because the low turnout (and it will remain) and the opposing coalitions know that to reach the majority even the small allies must be able to overcome the minimum threshold (3.25%) to enter parliament.
The final rush to cry Oy Gevalt! (in Yiddish it sounds more or less What fear) this time it is interpreted by the premier Benjamin Netanyahu, that the teacher, trying to frighten the followers of Likud and the right with the image of buses full of left-handed converging towards the seats. He has chosen to avoid as a bugbear the Arab parties, used in the last elections, because they could become useful and guarantee him external support.
The Israelis returned to vote for the fourth time in two years and Netanyahu bet on this date, when he decided to go to the government crisis: he could not be sure that by the end of March the vaccination campaign – of which he was the architect – would have been a success. Instead, the country reopened and resumed an almost normal life (those infected with Covid-19 voted in the ward or in protected places). It was not enough to give him a clear victory, at least according to the exit polls: Likud would have reached between 31 and 33 seats and does not differ much from previous challenges. To form the government Netanyahu needs the seats won by Naftali Bennett (between 7 and 8): the leader of Yamina (Right) during the election campaign he defined him as a failed leader but compared to the other contenders he never ruled out joining the coalition and was already his minister. The group would also include ultra-Orthodox and extremist politicians with racist and homophobic positions.
The anti-Bibi block led by Yair Lapid (There is a future: 16-17) and it cannot be defined as center-left because to get closer to the 61 necessary deputies it needs Gideon Sa’ar (who escaped from Likud in opposition to Netanyahu): it stops at 50 (59 counting the Joint Arab List) and would need Bennett, who would have to agree (unlikely) to ally with Labor and Meretz. The two historical parties of the left, at risk of disappearing, would have managed to save themselves with 6-7 deputies each.
March 23, 2021 (change March 23, 2021 | 22:11)
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