September 2019 Israeli legislative election

Following the April 2019 elections, Likud leader and incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had until the end of 29 May to form a governing coalition, including a two-week extension granted by President Reuven Rivlin.[4] Though the deadline passed without a coalition being formed and Rivlin would have been tasked with appointing a new Prime Minister-designate, presumed to be Blue and White party head Benny Gantz,[5] Netanyahu successfully pushed to dissolve the Knesset to avoid this.[6]

Negotiations between Netanyahu and a number of potential coalition partners stalled.[7] One sticking point between Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Lieberman was the passage of a draft law which is opposed by the Haredi parties in the coalition.[8] The law would remove the current exemption of yeshiva students from conscription.[9] Netanyahu needed both Yisrael Beitenu and the Haredi parties in his coalition in order to have enough seats to form a majority.[10]

As an alternative, Netanyahu approached Labor about the possibility of their support, but they rejected the offer. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's legal troubles overshadowed further possible coalition negotiations, with Blue and White refusing to work with him in the circumstances. The new elections also mean Netanyahu's proposed immunity law cannot proceed for the time being.[11]

On 28 May, the Knesset passed on first reading a bill which would dissolve the Knesset and force a snap election. This move was intended to place additional pressure on coalition partners to reach an agreement in time, as well as to prevent Gantz from being given the opportunity to put together a coalition should the deadline pass.[12][5] Later that day, the committee approved the bill for second and third reading.[13]

Late in the evening on 29 May, it was announced that talks had failed. That night, and into the morning of 30 May, the Knesset passed second and third readings of the bill to dissolve itself and force a snap election with a vote of 74 in favour to 45 against.[14] The 45 votes against the resolution came from the entire membership of three parties: the Blue and White alliance (35 votes), Labor (6 votes), and Meretz (4 votes). All other Knesset members voted for the resolution, with the exception of Roy Folkman, who was absent.[6]

The election was held on 17 September 2019.[2]

The 120 seats in the Knesset are elected by closed list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. The electoral threshold for the election is 3.25%. In most cases, this implies a minimum party size of four seats, but it is mathematically possible for a party to pass the electoral threshold and have only three seats (since 3.25% of 120 members = 3.9 members).[15]

These graphs show the polling trends from the time Knesset dissolved until the election day. No polls may be published from the end of Friday before the election until the polling stations closing on election day at 22:00.[55]

If more than one poll was conducted on the same day, the graphs show the average of the polls for that date.

During election day, a number of parties complained to the Election Committee. Blue and White, Yamina, and the Israeli Labor Party complained that a number of polling stations had fake slips for their parties.[56][57] Due to multiple claims of voting slip vandalism, the Central Elections Committee instructed election officials to count the slip as long as the letters were right and, if the slip was vandalized, with the sole purpose of invalidating it.[58]

The official election committee published a notice regarding people who were impersonating committee officials in Kafr Qasim.[59][60]

Likud was criticised for giving out gifts at polling stations in Netanya and Kfar Saba.[61][62]

Facebook suspended a chatbot on Netanyahu's Facebook account for 24 hours on 12 September for "hate speech", after it said that "a dangerous left-wing government" would rely on Arabs "who want to destroy us all—women, children, and men—and enable a nuclear Iran that would wipe us out"; Netanyahu remarked that he didn't write the statement, blamed a campaign staffer for the wording, and that the problem with the bot was immediately fixed.[63]

On 25 September, the Central Election Commission revised its official vote count, giving Likud one extra seat at the cost of United Torah Judaism. The committee further announced that there was "real evidence of apparent vote tampering" in at least six polling stations.[64]

The do-over election did not provide a clear view of the next government, as none could be formed without at least one party or leader reneging on their campaign promises on who should be prime minister, or on the religious-secular issue. Some mentioned the possibility of a third election.[67] The day before the election, Benny Gantz called President Reuven Rivlin to try to avoid a third election at all costs, after Benjamin Netanyahu had refused to rule them out.[68]

On election night, Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu called for a "broad liberal government" that includes both Blue and White and Likud, and reiterated that he did not want to form any majority with the Arab parties. Benny Gantz claimed Prime ministership and Blue and White repeated that they would not form a government with Netanyahu, although they were open to one with Likud. Benyamin Netanyahu called for a "strong Zionist government".[69] On the left, Labor–Gesher stated it wanted to bring Arab parties "to the table", some of which are open to recommending Gantz.[69]

On 18 September, Netanyahu met with the emissaries of Yamina, Shas, and UTJ, to build a right-wing bloc to negotiate together.[70]

On 19 September, Rivlin, Netanyahu and Gantz met during a memorial ceremony for Shimon Peres. Netanyahu urged Gantz to speak with him about forming a unity government, for the sake of avoiding a third round of elections.[69] Speaking for Blue and White, Gantz and Lapid both rejected Netanyahu's offer, saying Blue and White had won, and that Gantz had the right to lead a unity government committed to liberal policies on social issues, and thus refusing to discuss forming such a government with Netanyahu as long as right-wing religious parties were included. Lapid remarked that "if Netanyahu steps aside, we'll have a unity government".[71] Lieberman likewise accused Netanyahu of "deception" by offering a unity government, but conditioning it on the inclusion of religious parties.[72]

The same day, Gantz met with Horowitz. His aides said they expect a meeting with other party leaders, Odeh and Peretz. Labor–Gesher's six MKs could allow Netanyahu's bloc of 55 to find a majority. Likud thus reportedly offered Peretz the Finance portfolio, and a raise of the minimum wage, but the same sources say Peretz turned down the offer, which goes against a campaign vow. Netanyahu met with Degel HaTorah MKs, who, along with other Haredi parties (Shas, Agudat Yisrael), are starting to backtrack on their refusal not to govern with Lapid, in the case Lapid himself U-turns on Netanyahu. Lieberman was equivocal as to whether he would support Gantz, fearing to be sidelined from a unity government, or one that includes Haredim. According to Channel 13, Gantz reportedly promised to include Yisrael Beiteinu in any coalition.[73]

On 21 September, the 13 MKs from the Joint List met together. 10 of them—with three Balad MKs dissenting—expressed their readiness to nominate Gantz if he meets "basic demands" on the peace process, the Arab community's interests, and the Jewish nation-state law.[74] President Rivlin met with party leaders on 22 September for the first day of talks.[75] On 22 September 2019, the Joint List leader Ayman Odeh declared that the Joint List had agreed, by internal majority voting, to endorse Benny Gantz for prime minister, marking the first time an Arab-Israeli party had endorsed a Zionist for prime minister.[76] Though initial reports suggested that the Joint List's recommendation gave Gantz a 57 to 55 edge, Rivlin revealed on 23 September that three Balad MKs—elected as part of the Joint List—demanded that their names be removed from a list of nominees of Gantz. After a day of confusion, Tibi and Odeh—leaders of the two pro-Gantz parties within Joint List—wrote a letter to Rivlin clarifying that the Joint List did not, in fact, have a unity agreement that legally binds individual parties to follow the party's nomination for the prime minister.[77] As such, Balad's three MKs were legally allowed to ignore the Joint List's recommendation. As a result, Netanyahu leads Gantz in tallied recommendations by a 55 to 54 margin, with eight delegates from Yisrael Beiteinu and three delegates from Balad yet to recommend either.[77] On 25 September, Rivlin selected Netanyahu to attempt to form the thirty-fifth government of Israel, but with the stipulation that if the attempt fails, Rivlin retains the mandate to nominate another candidate.[78]

New members of Knesset were sworn in on 3 October 2019.[79] The same day, talks between Netanyahu and Lieberman ended with no breakthrough.[80] Moments after it was announced that Netanyahu was aiming to demonstrate Likud party unity with a leadership contest, the Israeli Prime Minister received a challenge from Gideon Sa'ar, who tersely tweeted, "I'm ready", should the Prime Minister agree to hold a leadership election.[81][82] On 4 October, Netanyahu decided against holding a leadership election.[83]

On 22 October, Netanyahu informed President Rivlin that he was unable to form a government.[84] On 23 October, President Rivlin gave the mandate of forming a government to Gantz.[85]

Gantz was then given 28 days to form a coalition to lead the government,[86] but was unable and returned the mandate on 21 November. Following this, a period of 21 days began in which any Knesset member can lead the government if they submit 61 signatures to the president.[87] Since no MK was able to form a government by 11 December, the Knesset again voted to dissolve itself, with new elections held on 2 March 2020.[88]

• List of members of the twenty-second Knesset
• 2019 in Israel
• List of elections in 2019

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Israeli legislative election, September 2019.

• Elections for the 22nd Knesset at the Israeli Central Elections Committee