On Tuesday, Israel voted in its fifth election in under four years to end the current political deadlock. The leading candidate is former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who for the first time in 13 years was not running as the incumbent.
Election officials say that the turnout was the highest since 2015. Voters chose between the right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu and the left-wing and centrist parties led by current Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Here's everything you need to know:
This is Israel's fifth election in four years. The turmoil largely comes from feuding parties within the Israeli Parliament, called the Knesset. There are several parties within the Knesset, none of which hold the majority, CNN reports. This leads them to form coalitions containing multiple parties to wrest control of a majority of the 61 seats.
The coalitions tend to be unstable and can shift and change easily, disrupting the majority in the Knesset. When this happens, the new majority tends to call a new election. The past few years have seen substantial shifts in coalitions, leading to many elections.
The quantity of elections is also largely attributed to Netanyahu, who has left the country almost evenly divided. He was Israel's longest-serving prime minister but is now facing corruption charges, which he actively denies, Reuters reports. Despite this, the charges have made him a polarizing figure, and resulted in his opponents forming an unprecedented coalition last year and ousting him from power, CNN continues. However, the coalition only lasted a little over a year before its leaders — Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid party and Naftali Bennett of the right-wing, now-splintered New Right — decided to call for a new election.
Despite being removed from power, Netanyahu is eyeing a comeback. Even during Election Day on Nov. 1, he was aggressively campaigning, going as far as to wake up one voter to send him to the polls. Political commentator Mazal Mualem called Netanyahu a "social and cultural phenomenon" and said that the fact "he has survived till now is proof of his power."
With over 90 percent of the vote counted as of Thursday morning, Netanyahu's bloc is expected to take 65 of the 120 Knesset seats, a clear majority, BBC reports. His bloc includes his party, Likud, which will be the largest party in Parliament, though it was boosted to power by welcoming far-right support.
In particular, Netanyahu joined forces with far-right lawmaker and leader of the Religious Zionism party Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir only just scraped into Parliament in 2021; however, polls now suggest that his party has gained traction, writes The New York Times. Many of Netanyahu's more moderate allies abandoned him over his corruption charges, requiring him to court ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, despite not being a member of the far-right himself.
Official election results will likely be announced by the end of the week.
While Netanyahu is likely to become prime minister again due to his bloc's impending majority in the Knesset, the biggest victory of the night was for the far-right, which will likely become the third-largest party in the Parliament and the second-largest in Netanyahu's coalition, the Times explains.
While the far-right previously only had minor political influence, their success can perhaps drastically change the future of Israeli politics. Far-right leader Ben-Gvir has previously been convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization ("Ben-Gvir was a follower of the late, explicitly racist, ultra-nationalist Meir Kahane, whose organization was banned in Israel and designated as a terrorist group by the United States," the BBC explains). He has also been vocal about ending Palestinian autonomy. In a speech on Wednesday, he said, "The time has come for us to be the landlords of our country."
The hope for opponents of Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir was for three parties — an Islamist party, a leftist party, and a Palestinian nationalist party — to garner enough votes in Parliament to block Netanyahu's appointment as prime minister, a hope that is dimming as more votes get counted. However, if tallies continue as they are, Arab representation in the Knesset will be greatly reduced.
Netanyahu's return would also end Lapid's rather diverse government, including parties from the right and left as well as the first-ever independent Arab party to join a governing coalition. He might also make major judicial reforms to free himself from potential corruption and bribery charges, Reuters reports.
The success of the far-right party in Israel's election is part of a broader global trend that includes Italy, Sweden, and, until the most recent election, Brazil. Israel's election also indicates a rise in nationalism in the nation, which concerns many Palestinians who are afraid the new leadership will incite violence in the region.
Despite the current tallies, Lapid has not conceded yet, saying, "We will continue to fight for Israel to be a Jewish and democratic, liberal and progressive state."
