I srael faces a possible electoral and internal political crisis with the chance of being unable to form a Government. The main battle has been between the leader of the Likud Party, current Prime Minister Netanyahu and the leader of the Blue and White Party Benny Gantz. The elections scheduled on March 23, 2021 were already the 4^th in the last 2 years. 

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also expressed his opinion on the elections: “Today, the Israeli people are going to the ballot box for the fifth time since I was sworn in as president, and after the vote I will be required for the sixth, or possibly the seventh, time to decide who to entrust with forming a government. In its 73 years of independence, the State of Israeli has not experienced a political crisis like the one we are currently in.” [1]

Israeli press and analysts discussed the electoral and political crisis in the country voicing views on the possibility of finally overcoming it with regular elections. Opinions on the cause of the crisis that has lasted for already 2 years now, is considered the political ambition of the current Prime Minister Netanyahu, who seeks to maintain power. As a result of Netanyahu’s perseverance the country and population face endless electoral and post-electoral processes causing financial losses to the country’s economy. Also, the Knesset hasn’t been able to approve the country’s budget for more than two years paralyzing the political system which in turn caused a number of leading government services and agencies facing serious financial and administrative problems. 

Some experts believe that the US presidential elections could have a significant impact on the results of Israeli parliamentary election taking place in March 2021. In particular, Trump’s withdrawal from the presidency leaves a serious negative impact on the political positions of the Israeli current Prime Minister Netanyahu.  President Trump significantly increased Israeli role in Washington’s Middle East policy. Moreover, the deepening of cooperation between the two countries in turn contributed to the strengthening of Netanyahu’s position in Israel’s domestic political field. In addition, the rather warm personal and business relations between Trump and Netanyahu also contributed to this. Analysts predict that Netanyahu will most likely not be able to establish a high-level dialogue with the newly-elected US President Biden and his administration.

Netanyahu on the eve of the latest elections managed to find reliable allies in the country’s political field, which would give rise to the possibility of forming a strong coalition, which had failed in the previous elections. The cooperation with Benny Gants, who still poses as one of the main opponents of Netanyahu was a reliable counterpart to win the elections. Forming a strong coalition was a must for Netanyahu, which would give him an opportunity to avoid holding elections for the fifth time, really weakening his positions significantly. Thus, the current Prime Minister managed to establish cooperation with the leaders of Shas, United Torah Judaism and Religious Zionist Party to form a majority. Cooperation with influential politician Naftali Bennet was a matter of principle, from the viewpoint of running a joint candidate in the elections, who leads the Yamina Party. In this election, the main battle was between the Likud party led by Netanyahu’s and Yair Lapid party led by political opponent, Yesh Atid.

Israeli experts also note that forming a coalition Government of National Accord was of a fundamental importance for the normal functioning of public life, as the society has recently split into two camps, those of Netanyahu-backed alliance and supporters of anti-alliance, presenting a danger in terms of deepening society’s polarization possibility in the country.

On preliminary results of the elections, Netanyahu seemed to have the ability to stop the two-year political-deadlock in the country. However, experts are skeptical whether the coalition forces will be able to maintain inter party dialogue after forming a coalition government, which can pave the way for possible new elections. Few days following the elections, however, there were opinions that Netanyahu failed to form a majority government even with several political forces joining him. This presented the possibility to get the support of the Arab-Islamic Ra’am Party. According to preliminary results, Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism և Religious Zionism Party together with Yamina Party secured 59 seats in the Parliament, lacking 2 seats to form the majority.

The Ra’am Party’s leader Mansur Abbas has previously cooperated with Netanyahu. In the post-election period, the Likud Party’s leadership was actively working to complete the process of forming a coalition government, receiving the support of the moderate Arab front. According to the final results of the elections, the Likud Party secured 30 seats and Yesh Atid 17 seats in the Knesset. In addition, Netanyahu is also facing serious problems as a result of the decision made by the High Court of Justice, according to which the prime minister is not authorized to appoint senior law enforcement and justice officials due to numerous criminal cases filed against him. [2]

Thus, according to the final results of the elections published by the Central Electoral Commission the current Prime Minister is likely to fail the opportunity of forming a majority with the bloc he has formed, which allows his political opponent Yair Lapid to become the most probable candidate to form a government. The alliance supporting Netanyahu could not secure 2 more seats, maintaining 59 seats not enough to form the majority. Experts however keep suggesting whether Lapid will be able to collect the necessary votes to beat Netenyahu to overcome the next of continuing political crisis.

[1] https://www.jpost.com/opinion/i-want-to-hear-yo

[2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-bars-n