After 85% Of Israel’s Votes Counted, Chareidim And Right Wing On Verge Of Resounding Victory

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — As data from the polling stations arrived at the central election committee in Israel, it is looking increasingly clear [but not yet final] that the Israeli right wing and chareidi parties have finally, after four inconclusive elections, won a resounding victory. The victory is in part due to unprecedented mobilization of votes on the right but mainly due to the splintering of the left-wing and Arab parties and their inability to unite prior to the elections.

On the right-wing, Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir teamed up in a joint party which has garnered an estimated 14 seats, making it the third largest party in the Knesset behind Likud (31) and Yesh Atid(24). Shas currently is estimated at 12 seats, a significant rise from their current 9 seats, while UTJ has managed to add an extra Knesset member and reach 8 seats, meaning that the chareidi parties will represent a sixth of the Knesset, far beyond their proportion of the population.

On the left-wing, after Labor and Meretz did not succeed in resolving their differences and uniting, both parties appear to have been hit hard. Labor currently has an estimated 4 seats compared to the 7 it had in the previous government, while Meretz, which had 6 seats previously, is under the electoral threshold and in danger of disappearing. The National Party of Benny Gantz and Gidon Saar did not fulfill the hopes of its leaders, who lost some of their electoral strength and have an estimated 12 seats.

The Arab parties split into 3 prior to the elections, with the extremist anti-Israel Balad party splitting from Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am. Balad is not expected to pass the electoral threshold but received far more of the vote than polled and prevented the other Arab parties from maximizing their potential. Thus the two Arab parties will maintain the 10 seats they had in the Knesset but will lack political power with the left splintered and in disarray.

Ayelet Shaked’s Jewish Home party did not cross the threshold but may have been responsible for diverting voters from left-wing parties and for raising the threshold (which is defined by 3.25% of the number of legitimate votes cast) which could leave Meretz out of the Knesset.