An updated vote count released on Wednesday morning placed the Islamic Ra’am party above the electoral threshold, dramatically altering the collapse of the pro and anti-Netanyahu blocs and turning President Mansour Abbas into a possible kingmaker.
With 87 percent of the votes counted, the Israeli Arab party managed to accumulate more than 150,000 votes and is now expected to receive five seats at the next Knesset, according to figures released by the Central Elections Committee.
Ra’am’s new position comes at the expense of Likud, Yesh Atid, Shas, United Torah Judaism and Meretz, who each lost a seat in relation to the number predicted earlier in the count. With three such parties within the pro-Netanyahu bloc, Ra’am’s gain pushed the parties that supported the prime minister under the 61 crucial seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
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According to the latest seat division, Likud would win 30, Shas 9, United Torah Judaism 7 and the Religious Zionism 6 party. This would give the pro-Netanyahu bloc a total of just 52 seats, even without the majority, even if Yamina has joined its 7 seats.
Across the corridor, parties that have pledged to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form the next coalition have 56 seats.
Ra’am could therefore potentially place either side above the 61 mark, crowning the next prime minister.
Reacting to the updated vote count, Abbas emphasized that he was not “in the pocket” of any parliamentary bloc.
“We are willing to negotiate with both sides, with anyone interested in forming a government and who sees himself as a future prime minister,” Abbas told Radio 103FM.
“If there is an offer, we will sit down and talk,” he said.
Israel’s fourth election in two years found Arab Israelis split between the Joint List, a coalition of Arab parties formed in 2015, and the Islamic conservative Ra’am.
Ra’am party leader Mansour Abbas votes in his home town of Maghar in northern Israel (Credit: Ra’am spokesman)
The party and its leader Abbas were elected in March 2020 as part of the Joint List. But Abbas went his own way, outlining a “new method” of Israeli Arab policy – a totally pragmatic approach that could get him to support a government led by Netanyahu in exchange for seeing his legislative priorities advanced.
Abbas’ public division with his former allies has brought huge criticism to both sides of the Arab community. Abbas’ defenders called him pragmatic, sensible and innovative, while his distractors saw him as obscure and unprincipled.
The Likud party seemed divided on Wednesday morning over the possibility of forming a coalition that had Ra’am’s support, a possibility that Netanyahu ruled out during the election campaign.
Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch of Likud told public broadcaster Kan that Abbas “will definitely not be part of the government”.
He said that if the pro-Netanyahu bloc fails to get the necessary majority of 61 seats, “we are moving towards the fifth election.”
However, in a separate interview with Channel 12 news, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi said that “in the current situation, we see Mansour Abbas as a potential possibility [for coalition partner]. “
In response, Likud MK Shlomo Karhi tweeted: “Absolutely not!”
“Who is Shlomo Karhi?” replied Hanegbi. “When I leave the studio, I’m going to Google his name.”
The leader of the Likud faction and coalition whip, Miki Zohar, said in a tweet: “It is our duty to do everything, and I mean everything, to avoid fifth elections. We must exhaust all the political options available to form a government that works for the citizens of Israel, because that is what is currently important for our country ”.
Netanyahu repeatedly promised during the campaign that he would not only refuse to be part of a coalition with Ra’am, but would also not count on the support of the Islamic party from outside the government.
Likud supporters at the party headquarters in Jerusalem on election night, March 23, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Also on Wednesday morning, the New Hope candidate and former Likud minister, Ze’ev Elkin, reiterated his party’s promise not to join a government led by Netanyahu, “no matter what work we are given offered ”. He also said that no member of Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope would desert to the Netanyahu bloc.
“If Netanyahu forms a government, we will serve the opposition public,” tweeted Elkin.
He also said that New Hope would not be part of a coalition backed by Ra’am, leaving the faction with limited options after it performed poorly in the election. With 87% of the votes counted, New Hope had six seats.
Central Elections Committee director Orly Adas said Wednesday morning that the final results of all regular polling stations would be confirmed and published in the afternoon.
According to Adas, all polling stations have finished counting, but the electoral commission is verifying the results according to the protocol and gradually updating the total count.
She said there were about 450,000 “double envelope” ballots – absent votes cast anywhere outside the designated polling station. In the previous three elections, the number of voters in double envelopes rose from 240,000, to 280,000, to 330,000 in the last election in March 2020.
Aaron Boxerman and Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
