It's heartwarming to see Likud activists launch into a dance in the same place for the same person. This is how it looked from Booth 2 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds
It’s “after elections” for the third time. A day after the polls closed, real results shed light on the mandate map, and more importantly, the bloc situation: 58 for the right wing, 55 for the left (unless there’s some dramatic surprise by a corona ballot after this writing). The right-wing bloc is three seats away from a Knesset majority. Touching distance? Zvika Hauser, Yoaz Hendel, Omer Yankelevitch and Orly Levi — might be solutions.
So there is no right-wing government, at least not on a silver platter. At the same time, it’s an exaggeration to say that the champagnes were opened too early. They needed to be opened, if only because of the high number of mandates that the Likud — and the whole bloc — received, a number that exceeded all expectations. Even the BBC reported on the early declaration of victory, noting that a “declaration of victory is an important psychological step.” But the champagne is the least agitated thing right now.
The question of all questions is which of the three possibilities the Likud will focus their efforts on to form a government: unity, minority, or defectors from the center-left to the right. A fourth election is out of the question — both declaratively and in theory. The background noises being made by the center-left carry a tone of appeasement, or at least a determination to prevent further elections, no matter the cost.
Gantz’s “We will do everything possible to replace the leadership,” clashes with Lapid’s “We won’t sit in a unity government with Netanyahu.” Based on the way it looks now, there is no way to replace the ruling party without a unity government with a rotation. Either way, the most realistic option are the defectors. Someone has to come home.
Netanyahu is known for his publicity skills and successful campaign management. In this last election, in contrast to the previous ones, Netanyahu was on the ground talking to voters, and set a goal of bringing the boys home, so to speak, by getting 300,000 Likud voters who stayed home during the last election to go vote.
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