Netanyahu bids for comeback in tight Israeli election
Israelis began voting for the fifth time in less than four years on Tuesday, with former premier Benjamin Netanyahu bidding for a comeback in a race likely to turn on a far-right party that has risen from the fringe to become a potential coalition kingmaker.
After years of deadlock, voter exasperation may hurt turnout, but surging support for the ultra-national Religious Zionism bloc and firebrand co-leader Itamar Ben-Gvir has galvanised the campaign.
Israel’s longest-serving premier, Netanyahu is on trial on corruption charges, which he denies, but his right Likud party is still expected to finish as the largest in parliament.
However, as polls opened on Tuesday, the final opinion polls from last week showed him still short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, opening the prospect of weeks of coalition wrangling and possibly new elections.
“There’s a feeling of despair at all these elections,” said Hagit Cohen, a 46-year-old social worker from Tel Aviv. She said she was voting for outgoing centr Prime Miner Yair Lapid rather than the centre-left parties she normally backed.
Israelis are voting in their fifth election in less than four years, and once again former PM Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to play a crucial role.
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Security and surging prices have topped the l of voter concerns in a campaign triggered defections from the unlikely ruling coalition of right-wing, centr and Arab parties formed after the last election.
The campaign, which opened weeks after a brief conflict with the militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza in August, has also unrolled against a backdrop of months of violence in the occupied West Bank, with near-daily raids and clashes.
However, the conflict has had little direct impact on the campaign, which has been overshadowed the outsized personality of Netanyahu, whose legal battles have fed the stalemate blocking Israel’s political system since he was indicted on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges in 2019.
As Netanyahu’s legal problems have continued, Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right leader Bezalel Smotrich have eaten into Likud’s traditional hawkish base and the once-marginal Religious Zionism is now set to be the third-largest party in parliament.
Ben-Gvir – a former member of Kach, a group on Israeli and US terror watchls — has moderated some earlier positions, but the prospect of his joining a coalition government led Netanyahu risks alarming Washington.
Lapid has campaigned on diplomatic advances with countries including Turkey and Lebanon as well as on a strong performance the Israeli economy which has weathered the turbulent global environment in relatively good shape.
