As political crisis grinds on, nation votes

JERUSALEM (AP):

For the fifth time since 2019, Israelis were voting in national elections on Tuesday, hoping to break the political deadlock that has paralysed the country for the past three and a half years.

Again, the vote centres around former premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s fitness to lead while he faces corruption charges. And while polls predict another stalemate, Netanyahu is looking to the surging power of far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir to propel him back to power.

Election officials said that by 4 p.m. local time, the turnout stood at 47.5 per cent, the highest at that time since 1999. But there was no breakdown of the vote that might show who was benefiting.

Netanyahu’s main rival is the man who helped oust him last year, the centrist caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has warned against the nationalist and religious alliance that would emerge should Netanyahu return to power.

“Vote for the state of Israel, and for the future of our children,” Lapid said, after casting his ballot in the upscale Tel Aviv neighbourhood where he lives.

After he cast his vote in the West Bank settlement where he lives, Ben-Gvir promised that a vote for his party would bring about a “fully right-wing government” with Netanyahu as prime minister.

Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted of incitement for his anti-Arab rhetoric and has promised to deport Arab lawmakers, has seen his clout rise in the polls ahead of the vote and has demanded a key portfolio should Netanyahu be tapped to form a government.

With former allies and proteges refusing to sit under him while he is on trial, Netanyahu has been unable to form a viable majority government in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament.

“I’m a little worried,” Netanyahu said after voting. “I hope we end the day with a smile.”

Netanyahu’s opponents, an ideologically diverse constellation of parties, are equally hamstrung in cobbling together the 61 seats needed to rule.

That impasse has mired Israel in an unprecedented political crisis that has eroded Israelis’ faith in their democracy, its institutions and their political leaders.

“People are tired of instability, of the fact that the government is not delivering the goods,” said Yohanan Plesner, a former legislator who now heads the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

Buoyed by his followers’ almost cult-like adoration, Netanyahu, 73, has rejected calls to step down by his opponents, who say someone on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes cannot govern. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, but embarrassing details from his ongoing trial repeatedly make front-page news.