Chaos in Israel... Netanyahu's Coalition Formation Failure Confirmed

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] As it becomes certain that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition formation will fail, the political deadlock in Israel is expected to continue, reported the Washington Post (WP) and others on the 25th (local time).

In the general election held on the 23rd, the right-wing Likud party led by Netanyahu secured 30 seats in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) (99.5% of votes counted). Although it maintained its status as the largest party, it lost 6 seats compared to the previous 36 seats. Even when combining all the seats of Likud's allied parties, it only reached 52 seats, falling short of the majority (61 seats) by 9 seats.

On the other hand, the centrist "Yesh Atid" led by Netanyahu's biggest rival Yair Lapid secured 17 seats, and the "anti-Netanyahu bloc" parties secured a total of 57 seats. Additionally, the far-right "Yamina" and the Arab party "Joint Arab List" secured 7 and 4 seats respectively. For Netanyahu to form a coalition government, he must either bring in both Yamina and the Joint Arab List or induce defections from the anti-Netanyahu bloc.

However, some pro-Netanyahu parties strongly oppose cooperation with the Joint Arab List, making it widely expected that forming a Netanyahu-centered coalition will be difficult in reality.

Amid political turmoil, Israel has held four general elections in two years, including those in April and September 2019 and March last year.

WP analyzed that the four elections held in just two years caused division between those supporting Netanyahu and those aiming to end his term, and that forming a coalition under Netanyahu will become even more difficult going forward.

Yohanan Plesner, director of the Israel Democracy Institute, said, "This is the worst political crisis in decades," adding, "It has become clear that it is now difficult to find a decisive winner in our political system."

Netanyahu, who faced severe criticism for his initial failure to respond to COVID-19, hoped for a turnaround by securing vaccines early and successfully conducting vaccinations, but allegations of corruption and fatigue from his 15-year long tenure have cast a shadow over his bid for re-election.

Bloomberg reported that Netanyahu is currently on trial for bribery, breach of trust, and fraud, accused of receiving tens of thousands of dollars in bribes during his time as prime minister. If he does not secure a mandate through this election victory, his political career, having held the longest tenure as prime minister for 15 years, could be in jeopardy.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.