For the survival of our political future: Go and vote
Citizens should vote and support parties they believe in that are likely to enter the Knesset to help foster stability and end this cycle of political deadlock.
By JPOST EDITORIALWORKERS MAKE preparations ahead of the election at the Central Elections Committee’s logistics center in Shoham last month.(photo credit: AMMAR AWAD / REUTERS)
According to the final polls released last week, 13 parties will enter the next Knesset. However, a large number of parties are so close to the threshold that voters are being begged to stick with them until the last moment.This list includes Blue and White, the party led by Benny Gantz that was one of the largest in the last three elections. In addition, there is Meretz, which often comes close to being below the number of votes needed to enter the Knesset and is again hoping it will remain after the election.Meanwhile, the Labor Party and Religious Zionism are also averaging just five or six seats. The small Arab party Ra’am has also polled at around four seats.There are some 40 parties running this year. As usual, many will get only a few thousand votes. In the last election, more than 30,000 votes went to very small parties; in essence, those votes could have helped a different party get another candidate into the Knesset.In elections before that, even more votes went to parties that did not make it into the Knesset. In the April 2019 election, for example, some 138,000 votes went to New Right, 118,000 to Zehut and 74,000 to Gesher. None crossed the threshold.Like in every election, Israelis have an obligation to vote. Maintaining and safeguarding Israel’s democracy is a national responsibility incumbent on each and every one of us. Voting is the way we express our desire in a democracy. It is the way we tell our political leaders whether we are happy with the job they have done or not.After three elections, though, it is important that we create some political stability after Tuesday’s vote. That means voting for parties that will cross the threshold and enter the Knesset. People should be wary of wasting votes on small parties unlikely to make it.We need votes to count because we need stability in this country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dragged Israel into four rounds of elections because he has refused to abide by coalition agreements like the one he signed with Gantz last April.Netanyahu led Gantz into a coalition after three elections through claims of a national emergency due to COVID-19. But then he sidelined the former IDF chief of staff, who quickly learned that the coalition agreement wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. Passing a national budget, one of Gantz’s stipulations, was trampled time again, and knowing that Gantz’s poll numbers were near zero, Netanyahu was happy to go back to elections.What happens after this election will not be in the people’s hands. We vote for parties and hope they make the right decision in the coalition talks that begin after the president taps one of the leaders with the mandate to form a new government.Based on the last two years, it is not farfetched to imagine that Netanyahu will continue taking Israel to more and more elections as long as it keeps him in the Prime Minister’s Office. For all we know, a lockdown will be imposed again after the election so that the prime minister can form another “emergency” coalition.What the public does have power over is the right to vote. People should go vote for one of the multiplicity of parties before them, with a view toward empowering those that will actually do something in the Knesset, will have a strong stabilizing voice and will demand accountability.Israel is an incredible success story, and the vaccines have brought some hope. But the country needs more answers about what should come next, not just random airport closures and travel changes without regard to a rules-based system.Toward that end, citizens should vote and support parties they believe in that are likely to enter the Knesset to help foster stability and end this cycle of political deadlock. Whether that means the religious, the Right, the Center, the Left, or Arab parties, Election Day is a celebration of democracy, and we should hope for a more stable coalition in the future.Go and vote.
Related TagspollIsrael Elections 20212021
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