By Micah Halpern
Wednesday January 23, 2013I've Been Thinking:
Elections in Israel are over -- finally. Now the real work begins.
The earliest and the most obvious result to come in from this election is that the polls were off, really off. If polling in general is difficult, polling Israelis is nearly impossible.
Israelis never vote for what they want.
Israelis vote to punish or to check or counter check.
Because almost no Israeli actually votes because they support a particular point of view, the swing vote is more volatile than any mathematical variable.
In the end Netanyahu's combined party of Likud - Beiteinu got 33 seats. The second largest party won 19 seats and it is the brand new party called Yesh Atid which means "there is a future". Yesh Atid is lead by brand new party head Yair Lapid, a former pro soccer player, tv talk show star and media personality. He is the son of Tommy Lapid who was an outspoken and even more popular media personality who also used his fame as a catapult into politics. His mother is one of Israel's leading authors.
Yair learned well from the father. His party ran on an anti'ultra religious platform. The most significant point it embraces is a universal draft - a direct assault on the ultra-religious and one more socially progressive policies - another assualt. He is realistic on Palestinian peace.
Lapid and his Yesh Atid Party could hold some important cards if they join the Likud - Beiteinu coalition.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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