The israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been a paramount figure in the israeli and middle eastern politics for ten years.
But Tuesday’s elections in Israel, which is the second of its kind in just five months, can be an emphatic end to the controversial head of government.
Polls predict a dead heat between the Netanyahus nationalkonservative the Likud party and the midtersøgende alliance Blue and White, headed by Israel’s former military chief Benny Gantz.
at the same time, it seems that an old joker in israeli politics, the former foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and his right-wing party Yisrael Beiteinu may get the role as kongemager.
Even though the parties, who pointed to Netanyahu as prime minister, won a majority at the election in april, so it should prove very difficult for the Likud leader to form a new government.
It led to a collapse in the negotiations, after which a lynvalg was printed.
In april, it was also a neglebider, where the Likud and Gantz’ alliance got 35 seats each in the israeli parliament, the Knesset.
And in this repetition of the campaign are few, but weighty subjects, that is, the course with the attention: the regional crisis with Iran, the fruitless negotiations with the palestinians, relations with the UNITED states and the stable economic development.
Should Netanyahu be denied a fifth’s reign – which would be a historic achievement in the middle eastern country – so is the observers disagree on what consequences it will have for the peace process with the palestinians, which broke down five years ago.
the election campaign has the prime minister announced that he intends to annex the jordan valley in the occupied west bank. It is seen as an attempt to mobilize the conservative and nationalist kernevælgere.
He has also warned against a change of government, where the left gets too much influence – including the left-wing party Fælleslisten, which mainly consist of arab israelis.
It will, according to Netanyahu ‘weaken Israel in both our friends and enemies eyes’.
– It is up to you! Likuds leadership is very small, it sounded from a raucous Benjamin Netanyahu in a video on Twitter.
He has been on premierministerposten in two laps. First, from 1996 to 1999 and again since 2009.
The many years in the political arena may have been a disincentive for the 69-year-old Netanyahu.
– There is a noticeable sense of fatigue. Many israelis have had enough of the cadre of politicians, says Amotz Asa-El, who researches vælgervandringer at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.
