The electoral system is presenting many voters with an impossible dilemma
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This is an expanded version of my Times (£) column today.
I have just been to cast my vote in Israel’s general election. There was a long queue, as normal, because in Israel there are no postal votes and the public have to present themselves in person at the voting station with a voting card and an ID number.
This system is therefore far less prone to corruption than elections in Britain or America. That’s just about its only selling point. A more dysfunctional electoral system could scarcely be imagined.
Israelis are more energised and apprehensive about this election than is usually the case in this politically obsessed country. The choice being made today is regarded, not just in Israel but around the world, as the most consequential for years. And for many voters, it’s proving the most agonising.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been prime minister for a total of 19 years across three separate governments, has dominated Israeli and world politics for so long that he seems a fixture of the geopolitical landscape.
Yet he’s been badly limping in the polls. Will the seemingly politically immortal Bibi finally be removed from office, or will his near-mythical powers of political survival win him another term? And whether he wins or loses, what will be the knock-on effects on Israel’s relationship with the United States and the still unfinished war against Iran?...
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