Israeli Elections

 Hi All! I will not be leaving for Israel until mid February, but I wanted to overview Israel's recent elections for my own records and for any one who wants to keep up on my [political] adventures abroad. I just blogged about some basic events, and of course, there are many more interesting aspects of this election.

The Israeli elections occurred on Wednesday, Jan 23^rd. There were some surprising results, which will factor into issues including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel’s evolving political environment.

Results:

Likud

The Likud party, who is led by Netanyahu, the incumbent Prime Minister, won the election. However, his party lost a significant amount of seats in the Knesset. Their party took only 31 of 120 seats. Political analysts had expected the Likud party to perform much better, and many explanations for their poorer performance center on dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s decisions and the emergence of a new moderate party.

Yesh Atid

The Yesh Atid party (There is a Future) won 19 out of 120 seats and is led by Yair Lapid. This party is considered more moderate than the Likud party, and caters to the middle class. A pertinent issue in discussion is the validity exemptions from mandatory military service. In July, a law that allowed ultra-orthodox Israeli to be exempt from service was overturned. The Yesh Atid party has stated that they will pursue mandating universal military service, including Israeli men studying in a Yeshava. Lapid has made it clear that he expects the next government to impose economic changes and resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

Coalition Government

Netanyahu must form a coalition government in a little over the month. This government will have to be comprised of at least 61 members of the Knesset in order to be viable. Analysts believe it is very likely that Netanyahu will include the Yesh Atid party. Given that decision, he will have to include at least one other party to meet the 61 member requirement. There are potential problems, dependent on Netanyahu’s decisions. “A coalition that joins parties with dramatically divergent views on peacemaking, the economy and the military draft, could however, easily be headed for gridlock (Al Jazeera).”

Sources:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/01/2013122214950510525.html

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/01/23/netanyahu-faces-challenge-forming-coalition-but-some-media-misinterpreting-the-results-and-check-out-these-interesting-voting-factoids/