The polls of the four TV channels: 11, 12, 13, and 14 indicated that the representation of the Arab community in the Knesset might drop to 8 or 9 seats, in the next Knesset.
However, with the start of publishing the actual results of the vote count during the night, and after counting nearly 80% of the votes, or about 3.8 million votes, it is clear that Meretz has not passed the threshold, and the assembly is swinging around the threshold.
Currently, the Likud gets 31 seats, while the bloc supporting it gets about 65 seats. While Yesh Atid, led by Prime Minister Yair Lapid, won 24 seats, followed by Religious Zionism with 14 seats. These results differ from the recent polls published by the channels, which gave the right-wing bloc and Netanyahu 61-62 seats, according to which Meretz passed the electoral threshold.
Nearly 5 million citizens participated in the elections yesterday and cast their votes, registering the highest voter turnout since 1999. The voter turnout was 71.3%, while in the Arab community the voter turnout reached about 54% (according to party sources), which is the highest since the year 1999. It seems that the campaign of intimidation led by various lists, from Balad and Ra’am to Hadash, succeeded in raising the voter turnout in the Arab community to more than 40%, as was expected.
While the polls gave the right-wing bloc headed by Netanyahu a majority of 61-62, the bloc headed by Lapid slipped to 54, after the failure of the Jewish Home to pass the threshold, and while the bloc oscillates around the threshold, without any indication of its success in crossing it.
The polls gave the Hadash and Al-Arabiya for Change a representation of five seats in two of the polls and four members in the other section. As for the consolidated list, it is represented by five members, according to the four polls, while the polls indicate that the assembly did not pass the electoral threshold.
The Hadash and Al-Arabiya List for Change said in a statement: To our cadres, our activists, and everyone who made an effort in this battle gives you health and all thanks and appreciation to you.
She added, “We are quietly waiting for the results and preparing for new challenges. Without a relationship to the results, we are in the field and our roots are firmly established among the people and in the fields of struggle. We have to be responsible, as the elections are a day and we are with each other. Now the work begins!
The headquarters of the Hadash and Al-Arabiya for Change in Shfaram witnessed a festive atmosphere after making sure that the electoral threshold had been crossed. The head of the Arab Front for Change(Hadash), Ayman Odeh, announced his disappointment with the results, “We warned against fascism and Kahanism, and this is the result. I hope that the likes of Ben Gvir and Netanyahu will not be able to form a government, but if they succeed, we will know how to stand against fascism, Jews and Arabs.”
At Balad’s headquarters, shouts of victory and joy erupted with the publication of the results of the polls, amid internal predictions that the list would obtain 180,000 votes, including about 54,000 votes in the Negev. The leaders of the unified gave celebratory speeches and the deputy d. Mansour Abbas that this is a great achievement and thanked all the voters.