2022

Israel’s 36^th government (Bennett-Lapid government) which took office following the 2021 elections was unique in several ways. First, the parliamentary coalition that supported the government included, for the first time, an Arab party (Ra’am); Secondly, it included 8 parties from a wide ideological spectrum; Thirdly, the prime minister came from a small party. These attributes, along with the fact that it was a fragile coalition supported by a minimal majority of 61 MKs, led to a government that faced constant and complex challenges. In the first 10 months the government met these challenges quite well. However, by Spring 2022 the government had begun to destabilize after several MKs removed their parliamentary support. The loss of a parliamentary majority culminated in PM Bennett’s decision to dissolve the Knesset and call for early elections. As a result, Yesh Atid’s chairman Yair Lapid was nominated as Israel’s 14^th Prime Minister.

The election to the 25^th Knesset were held on November 1^st, 2022. This marked the fifth time Israeli citizens went to the polls within three and a half years. As a result, Israel has become the parliamentary democracy with the highest election frequency, a circumstance that reflects alarming levels of instability and lack of governability. In August, some of the parties held primaries to elect their candidates for the coming elections, while in other parties the lists were determined by the leader or by a small nominating committee.

Towards the deadline for submitting the lists of candidates, the field of contestants became clearer. Three main changes occured in comparison to the previous elections. First, the New Hope party (headed by by Gideon Sa'ar) joined Blue & White (headed by Benny Gantz), and the two ran under a new label: Israel's Unity Party. Second, Yamina list disintegrated. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett retired and Ayelet Shaked competed under The Jewish Home. Thirdly, the Joint List broke up and Hadash-Ta'al competed on one list, while Balad competed independently for the first time since 2013. A total of 40 lists submitted their candidacies to the Central Election Committee.

Election polls predicted close elections between the pro-Netanyahu bloc and the parties which opposed a Netanyahu-led government. In terms of number of votes the elections indeed showed nearly a tie between the two blocs. However, the failure of Meretz and Balad to clear the electoral threshold resulted in a clear victory to the right-wing parties. Likud and its allies won a total of 64 seats, a comfortable majority that will allow Netanyahu to form a "pure" right-wing government.