Netanyahu Bloc Loses Seats Despite Vote Increase
Translated & summarized from Ynet by baba
Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc lost 11 Knesset seats in the recent election despite a slight increase in votes, as the overall voter turnout surged. The change bloc and Arab parties saw significant gains, with Arab parties achieving their highest representation since the state's founding. Shas, a key party in Netanyahu's bloc, particularly suffered a sharp decline in votes and mandates. The article attributes these shifts to increased turnout in the Arab sector and the performance of parties that previously fell below the electoral threshold.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Netanyahu's bloc lost 11 Knesset seats despite receiving 83,000 more votes.
- Arab parties achieved their highest representation ever with 19 Knesset seats.
- Shas saw its representation plummet from 11 to 6 Knesset seats.
- The change bloc increased its Knesset representation from 46 to 48 seats.
- Voter turnout surged, especially in the Arab sector, reaching 86.4% in Sakhnin.
Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc experienced a significant drop in Knesset seats in the recent elections, losing 11 mandates compared to the previous election, despite receiving approximately 83,000 more votes. This decline occurred even as the overall number of voters increased by nearly 20%. The bloc, which includes parties like Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, United Torah Judaism, and Shas, saw its share of the vote decrease from 48.38% to 42.1%. Notably, Shas experienced a sharp decline, falling from 8.25% of the vote in 2022 to 5.26%, resulting in a loss of 11 mandates down to 6. This drop is attributed to the party's uncompromising stance on the exemption of Haredim from IDF service, potentially alienating religious and traditional voters.
In contrast, the "change bloc" and Arab parties saw substantial gains. The change bloc's parties, which all passed the electoral threshold this time unlike in 2022, increased their vote count by over 17%, growing from 46 mandates to 48. The Arab parties achieved the most impressive surge, with their representation in the Knesset rising from 10 mandates to 19. This increase is largely due to a dramatic rise in voter turnout within the Arab sector, with cities like Sakhnin reporting an 86.4% turnout, the highest in Israel.
While Netanyahu's bloc did gain votes, the increase was modest compared to the growth experienced by the change bloc and Arab parties. The Likud party itself saw its vote count rise to approximately 1,163,400, an increase of about 48,000 votes. However, its relative share of the vote decreased from 23.41% in 2022 to 20.51%. The article notes that even this increase is not a real gain when considering the overall rise in voter participation.
In the previous election, parties like Meretz and Balad fell below the electoral threshold, resulting in a significant number of "burned" votes. This time, all parties across the political spectrum successfully passed the threshold, contributing to the shifts in mandate distribution. The combined vote for the change bloc parties (excluding Meretz) in 2022 was 35%, rising to 37.76% in the current election. The Arab parties saw their vote share jump by over 63%, from around 511,000 votes to approximately 835,000.
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