Israeli General Election (2019) II: Electric Boogaloo (17.9.2019)

[Hnv1]

Well it’s happening. Let the games begin

[Oryxslayer]

Last time a county had these instant elections (Spain) turnout dropped and the party not involved the previous government formation (PP) benefited from the vote swings. But this is Israel, where the voters are loyal to the parties that gravitate around their general political pole, be it left, right, Haredi, Arab, or whatever. So who knows what is going to end up happening.

[RogueBeaver]

https://twitter.com/Gil_Hoffman/status/1133824672821387265

[parochial boy]

You heard it here first - in late August some mediocre centrist party surges in the polls and everyone gets all kinds of hopeful that Bibi is finally on the way out. Come election day, Likud wins outright and the right wins 70 seats.

May as well hold the bloody thing tomorrow.

[DavidB.]

It's happening. And I have no words for this freak show. I blame Lieberman, but I blame Netanyahu too. In the end I will support Smotrich anyway, but at this point I'm mad and I think this is banana republic behavior. It's inappropriate and the height of disrespect to hijack a nation like this. Because fundamentally voters are right. It is up to politicians to build a coalition.

[Progressive Pessimist]

You heard it here first - in late August some mediocre centrist party surges in the polls and everyone gets all kinds of hopeful that Bibi is finally on the way out. Come election day, Likud wins outright and the right wins 70 seats.

May as well hold the bloody thing tomorrow.

You can say that again...

[_]

You heard it here first - in late August some mediocre centrist party surges in the polls and everyone gets all kinds of hopeful that Bibi is finally on the way out. Come election day, Likud wins outright and the right wins 70 seats.

May as well hold the bloody thing tomorrow.

You can say that again...

"You heard it here first - in late August some mediocre centrist party surges in the polls and everyone gets all kinds of hopeful that Bibi is finally on the way out. Come election day, Likud wins outright and the right wins 70 seats.

May as well hold the bloody thing tomorrow."

[Famous Mortimer]

Labor is probably going to get a bump from leadership elections which Blue and White will not get. I think Blue and White and Labor will probably get the same amount of votes as last time but it will be more evenly split between the two.

[OSR stands with Israel]

This is why Israel should switch to FPTP. I actually think in FPTP Bibi may have a chance to lose cause he cant just rely on winning over base voters

[America Needs R'hllor]

This is why Israel should switch to FPTP. I actually think in FPTP Bibi may have a chance to lose cause he cant just rely on winning over base voters

Please stop lol, this idea has been completely shut down by anyone with a remote understanding of Israeli politics many times in the past already

Because fundamentally voters are right. It is up to politicians to build a coalition.

Can't say I agree with this tbh. I don't think voters who elected Trump are right, and I definitely don't think voters who are voting for a theocratic coalition promising to make the Knesset a criminal protection site are right. It's up to each person to decide.

[_]

This is why Israel should switch to FPTP. I actually think in FPTP Bibi may have a chance to lose cause he cant just rely on winning over base voters

beep boop FPTP beep boop

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Israel please please wake get rid of Bibi, you are better than this. I won’t hold my breath though.

[Walmart_shopper]

Israel please please wake get rid of Bibi, you are better than this. I won’t hold my breath though.

Why do you think we're better than this? Bibi is exactly what our banana republic deserves.

The beautiful thing is that a Moldovan Putinist who relies on racist political themes actually ended up saving us from Bibi anyway. Thanks, Yvette.

[Hnv1]

So with lack of funds it's already clear The Arab lists will form a joint list again. Meretz-Labour are set for a joint run. NR and Zehut are contemplating.

The field will be even less crowded.

[Walmart_shopper]

So with lack of funds it's already clear The Arab lists will form a joint list again. Meretz-Labour are set for a joint run. NR and Zehut are contemplating.

The field will be even less crowded.

It's why it really won't be quite the same election. These mergers will move mandates all over the place (towards the Likud but away from the right, towards the Arab parties, towards Labor but away from Blue and White, etc.). It may not fundamentally change the result (or maybe it will), but with Bibi now basically guaranteed to be indicted in October it could massively shift how a coalition is formed after the election.

[Famous Mortimer]

Has it been confirmed Blue and White won't get funding and if so, why would that happen?

[bigic]

The beautiful thing is that a Moldovan Putinist who relies on racist political themes actually ended up saving us from Bibi anyway.

Your emphasis on Lieberman's country of birth is also a bit... racist? And I dislike his politics probably as much as you do.

[America Needs R'hllor]

The beautiful thing is that a Moldovan Putinist who relies on racist political themes actually ended up saving us from Bibi anyway.

Your emphasis on Lieberman's country of birth is also a bit... racist? And I dislike his politics probably as much as you do.

Racism against post-Soviet Jews is pretty rampant, though in this case it's not really serious. The most racist party against us by far is Shas.

[DavidB.]

Because fundamentally voters are right. It is up to politicians to build a coalition.

Can't say I agree with this tbh. I don't think voters who elected Trump are right, and I definitely don't think voters who are voting for a theocratic coalition promising to make the Knesset a criminal protection site are right. It's up to each person to decide.

I don't mean it in that way (I certainly don't think Swedish and Spanish voters were right). What I mean is that politicians ought to work with the result that the people deliver. They shouldn't just be able to say "we can't deal with this result, let's do this election again" as if it's the people who made a mistake, not politicians. They should simply respect the outcome of the election and build a coalition.

[Walmart_shopper]

The beautiful thing is that a Moldovan Putinist who relies on racist political themes actually ended up saving us from Bibi anyway.

Your emphasis on Lieberman's country of birth is also a bit... racist? And I dislike his politics probably as much as you do.

He's from Moldova and represents an almost entirely Russian speaking party. I'm curious how it's possible to think of Yvette Liberman without thinking of those facts.

And I actually don't hate his politics that much. He's racist, but not in a dangerously messianic way like the settlers, whose racism is theological. He's merely conventionally racist in the traditional Israeli style, which is why he's a two-stater and not a build-the-tempke one-stater.  I actually very much admire his advocacy for Russian speaking Israelis and, on the rare occasion that he sticks to his principles, his insistene on government free from the dominance of the small Haredi minority.

[Hnv1]

Well as I'll be in Australia this is officially the first ever national, local, party elections I will not take part in

[Walmart_shopper]

Well as I'll be in Australia this is officially the first ever national, local, party elections I will not take part in

Who do you usually vote for, by the way?

[Famous Mortimer]

Lieberman literally leads a party for ex-Soviets, so his status as an ex-Soviet is relevant, it's not something he hides. Obviously ex-Soviets have interests which are different from Israelis at large, otherwise they wouldn't have their own political party. Same goes for other minorities: Arabs, ultra-Orthodox, etc.

[Hnv1]

Well as I'll be in Australia this is officially the first ever national, local, party elections I will not take part in

Who do you usually vote for, by the way?

In every GE bar the last one I voted Meretz, last time around I voted Balad as a protest. (I did almost vote Labour in 2003).

As it appears now, Gabbay is out of the door and whoever succeeds him will agree to a joint run with Meretz, I naturally wouldn't vote this abomination.

[Hnv1]

So, the big question now is...considering the amount of fire he's getting and is still to get by September, will Liberman recommend bibi again to the president? if not that's going to be huge.