By: Aryeh Savir

The exit polls of the March 2020 elections for the 23rd Knesset show that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu obtain a decisive victory and appears to be the leading candidate to form the next government. He is one seat short of establishing a government of 61 members.

The March 2020 elections saw the highest turnout since 1999.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud – 37

Benny Gantz’s Blue and White – 33

Labor + Gesher + Meretz – 6

The Joint Arab List – 15

United Torah Judaism – 8

Yemina – 7

Shas – 9

Yisrael Beiteinu – 6

Otzmah Yehudit – 0, failed to pass the electoral threshold.

(The numbers are based on Kan 11’s polls).

The main battle is between the right-wing bloc, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, which has 60 seats, and between the center-left bloc, led by Benny Gantz and his Blue and White party, which has only 40.

Netanyahu has obtained a significant enough majority to form a government. Netanyahu does not have the required 61 seats, although he is much closer to this number than Blue and White.

Gantz cannot rely on the Arab votes and is far from a coalition.

The left, including Labor and Meretz, took a beating at the ballots.

Netanyahu and the right will probably seek one member of the opposition to join them.

It should be noted that the exit polls last elections in 2015 failed to predict the actual outcome of the elections. A poll from the April elections likewise missed the mark. September’s exit poll was accurate.

Similarly, the exit polls do not take into consideration the soldiers’ votes, which are usually more to the right and can boost to the right-wing parties.

Several parties claimed they have documented attempts at elections fraud at various locations across the country as the police vowed to combat any attempts at fake news that would sway the outcome of the elections.

Political parties across the spectrum on Monday submitted several complaints to the police and the Central Elections Committee following claims that they have exposed attempts to influence the outcome of the elections in a fraudulent way.

The Central Elections Committee stated that someone had sent out a fake letter in its name claiming that the Otzmah Yehudit party had stepped out of the run for the Knesset.

Residents in the city of Holon attempted to forcefully shut down a special voting station designated for Israelis suspected of having contracted Coronavirus. The police were alerted to the scene.

The Torah Judaism party said that several of its potential voters received phone calls telling them not to come and vote.

At other locations, parties claimed that representatives of other political bodies attempted to limit the votes for them by hiding the ballots with their party name.

All parties are claiming that the turnout of their supporters is low in comparison to their political rivals, a ploy to motivate their supports to go out and vote.

However, the voting turnout a 2 o’clock was 38.1%, the highest number since 1999 and 1.6% more than the September elections.

Tens of thousands chose to spend the day hiking and visiting nature reserves.

            (TPS)