Israel’s Fifth Election Begins, Palestinian Votes Are Important

Tel Aviv, MINA – On Tuesday, November 1, 2022, polling stations were opened for 6.78 million Israelis to vote for a new government. This is the fifth election in just under four years.

Nearly 16% or 1.76 million Israelis had voted as of 10 a.m. local time, the highest percentage since 1981, according to the Central Electoral Committee.

Nearly 1.1 million Palestinian Israelis are eligible to vote. However, they are the group with the greatest variation in participation, making them an important factor in determining the general outcome of the election.

Quoted from The New Arab, according to observers, if slightly more than 53 percent of eligible ‘Arab voters’ cast their ballots, all three Arab parties would qualify for the Knesset. If such a scenario were to occur, Netanyahu would likely lose the 61 Knesset seats needed to form a right-wing religious government.

On the other hand, if turnout is low, no Arab party will cross the electoral threshold and it will benefit right-wing and religious parties.

“The main concern now is people coming to the polls,” Aida-Touma Suleiman, Knesset Member of Al-Jabha or Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, told The New Arab.

Aida-Touma Sulieman is the number three candidate of the Al-Jabha party and the Arab Movement for Renewal.

Traditionally, Arab voters go to the polls in the afternoon and evening.

“But it’s important to say that people are starting to realize that Arab representatives [in the Knesset] are in danger,” Suleiman said. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)