September 2019 Elections: Once Again No Political Decision
The multitude of parties, combined with the 'drinking' of mandates by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, led to the fact that 'The New Right' and 'Zehut' did not pass the electoral threshold. There is a great fear that even after the 2026 elections, a decision between the blocs will not be reached.
The elections held in September 2019 were the first time in the history of the State of Israel that the public was called to return to the polls after no decision was reached. After the right-wing bloc won 65 mandates in the April elections, it was expected that Benjamin Netanyahu would form a government. In fact, the right-wing bloc was supposed to win at least 67 mandates, but the multitude of parties, combined with the 'drinking' of mandates at the last moment by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud, led to the fact that 'The New Right' led by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked (3.22%) and 'Zehut' led by Moshe Feiglin (2.78%) did not pass the electoral threshold (3.25%).
To everyone's surprise, coalition negotiations with Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman failed, and Benjamin Netanyahu did not have a majority, as the right-wing bloc had only 60 mandates. At the last moment, Benjamin Netanyahu offered the Labor party chairman, Avi Gabbay, to join his government, committing that the government would not legislate the override clause. However, despite Gabbay's willingness, fierce opposition within Labor to serving under Benjamin Netanyahu led to the failure of negotiations, and the Knesset decided to disperse.
At the beginning of the campaign, it was clear that the main battle would be between the Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White led by Benny Gantz.
While Benjamin Netanyahu promised to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, Benny Gantz opposed this move and called for the renewal of the political process with the Palestinians. Furthermore, Gantz changed his stance on ultra-Orthodox parties, declaring his intention to form a secular unity government, thereby adopting the position of Avigdor Lieberman, who advocated for a unity government including the Likud, Blue and White, and Yisrael Beiteinu.
Learning from the April elections, the right-wing bloc understood that mergers were necessary. Kulanu and Zehut merged into the Likud, while Religious Zionism parties (except for Otzma Yehudit led by Itamar Ben Gvir) united into 'Yamina' led by Ayelet Shaked. In the center-left, Labor under Amir Peretz united with Gesher, and Meretz joined with Ehud Barak and Yair Golan's 'Democratic Israel' to form 'The Democratic Camp' with Stav Shaffir.
The election results illustrated that a decision between the blocs was not reached. Blue and White finished with 33 mandates, one more than the Likud, but Gantz could not form a government without Yisrael Beiteinu and the Joint List. Benjamin Netanyahu, whose bloc won only 55 mandates—a disappointing result for the Likud, which lost 300,000 votes—also lacked the possibility to form a government without Avigdor Lieberman.
In summary, the September 2019 elections illustrated the complexity of the Israeli political system. There is a great fear that even after the 2026 elections, we will discover that a decision between the blocs has not been reached again, potentially leading to a new political stalemate and another tiresome series of election campaigns.
Dr. Ori Wertman is a lecturer and research fellow at the University of South Wales in the UK, author of the book 'Crash: The Labor Party 1992-2024'.
