Right-Wing and Haredi Parties Repeatedly Fail to Live Up to Election Hype
Translated & summarized from Kikar HaShabbat by baba
Numerous right-wing and Haredi parties in Israel have historically failed to meet electoral expectations, leading to significant vote waste. In the 1992 elections, parties like Tehiya and Torah and Ha'aretz fell below the threshold, impacting the political balance. Similar patterns repeated in 2013, 2015, and the 2019 elections, where parties such as New Right, Zehut, and Otzma Yehudit, despite promising significant gains, failed to pass the electoral threshold, costing their blocs crucial mandates and influencing government formations.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Right-wing and Haredi parties in Israel have a history of failing to pass the electoral threshold.
- In 1992, fragmentation led to vote waste for parties like Tehiya, impacting the Oslo Accords' political landscape.
- The 2013 elections saw multiple parties, including Otzma LeYisrael, fail to cross the 2% threshold.
- Eli Yishai's Yachad party in 2015 wasted the most votes for a single party up to that point.
- In April 2019, New Right and Zehut narrowly missed the threshold, contributing to political instability.
- Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit also failed to pass the threshold in the September 2019 elections.
Israeli election history is replete with examples of new parties, particularly on the right and within the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) sector, that promise a political revolution and significant electoral gains, only to fall short and waste thousands of votes. These parties often criticize established political forces and claim to represent a fresh, ideological alternative. However, their electoral performances have frequently been disastrous, failing to pass the electoral threshold and thereby diminishing the overall strength of their respective blocs.
In the 1992 elections, the right-wing bloc suffered a significant loss of votes due to fragmentation among numerous lists. The electoral threshold was raised to 1.5%, and parties like 'Tehiya,' which included prominent figures such as Guela Cohen, Yuval Neeman, Alikim Haetzni, and Hanan Porat, failed to pass, receiving only 1.2% of the vote. Similarly, 'Torah and Ha'aretz,' founded by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, garnered a mere 0.14%, and 'Geulat Yisrael,' led by former MK Rabbi Eliezer Mizrahi, received 0.5%. These failures contributed to the left-wing bloc's advantage, enabling the formation of the government that led to the Oslo Accords.
The 2013 elections saw a similar phenomenon with a 2% electoral threshold. Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak's 'Koach Le'hashpia' party, which aimed to challenge Shas, received 0.74%. Rabbi Chaim Amsalem's 'Am Shalem' party, advocating for a moderate Haredi approach, garnered 1.20% despite favorable polls. The union of Aryeh Eldad and Michael Ben-Ari, 'Otzma LeYisrael,' advocating for a hardline national right, narrowly missed the threshold with 1.76%, wasting over 66,000 right-wing votes.
In the 2015 elections, Eli Yishai's 'Yachad' party, formed after his departure from Shas, united Sephardic Haredim, national religious voters, and the far-right. Despite polls predicting 4-5 seats, the party received 2.97%, falling short of the 3.25% threshold by approximately 11,000 votes, resulting in the largest single-party vote waste in Israeli history up to that point.
The April 2019 elections were particularly damaging for the national and religious camp, with a 3.25% threshold. Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked's 'New Right' party, predicted to win 6-8 seats, received 3.22%, missing the threshold by just 1,400 votes. This failure was a key factor in preventing Benjamin Netanyahu from forming a 61-seat majority, leading to new elections. Moshe Feiglin's 'Zehut' party, combining hardline Jewish identity politics with libertarianism, also failed to pass, receiving 2.74%.
Even in the September 2019 repeat elections, lessons were only partially learned. Despite the formation of the 'Yamina' alliance, parties ran independently outside the bloc. Itamar Ben-Gvir's 'Otzma Yehudit' party received 1.88%, far from the threshold, wasting votes equivalent to about 2.5 seats and preventing the right-wing bloc from reaching 61 mandates.
Mentioned
