israelis are heading to the polls today
in the country's fourth national
election in just two years
voters face a choice between blocks that
back long-standing prime minister
benjamin netanyahu
and those who seek to oust him with the
opposition fragmented many fear
the vote will once again lead to a shaky
coalition
that's if one can be formed at all
every vote counts and every little
action of support too
and alpartus lives next to the gaza
border in southern israel
she's out in the streets to remind
people to vote
she has no doubts about who should
remain prime minister
benjamin netanyahu
it's the moment of the elections i'm
here to remind people who is the best
to vote for him bibi netanyahu
that's all the fourth election in
two years is once again seen as a vote
for or against benjamin netanyahu
the leader of the likud party ran his
election campaign on the much admired
kovit 19 vaccination drive
and the reopening of the economy this
time he has several challenges
all running on an anything but netanyahu
ticket
yaila pete with his centrist yash atit
party is second in the polls
ex-liquid politician gidon tsar with new
hope
also aims to replace netanyahu just like
right-wing and naftali bennett from
yamina
who's left it open whether he would join
a coalition with netanyahu
we have about three to four leaders of
the entire netanyahu camp
standing divided against netanyahu
so if you stand together but you are
divided
the ability of co-working is very
limited
so the ability for them to form a
coalition
that will be able to govern and will be
able to survive
is improbable to reach a majority in the
knesset the israeli parliament
and to form a government parties need to
get 61 out of 120 seats
for many israelis netanyahu has become
an increasingly divisive figure
he's been in office since 2009 and he
faces corruption charges in court
allegations he denies
netanyahu's days are over he has been
our prime minister for 15 years
that's it we need something new a
different prime minister
i think bibi will be re-elected because
there's no one more promising
although i want to believe there is
someone else
i want the same prime minister to stay
because he's good for everyone
look around you people are living thanks
to the prime minister
people are alive netanyahu
opinion polls suggest that netanyahu's
liquid will remain the strongest party
what's less clear is who can build a
coalition
once the votes are counted
joining us now from tel aviv is dahlia
scheindlin she's
a policy fellow at the century
foundation
dalia is this election essentially an up
or down vote
on benjamin netanyahu
that's a very good question because if
you ask many of the voters and many of
the political campaigns and even
political party leaders
it certainly seems so i think the prime
uh you know offering that some of the
parties are saying is either we will
keep netanyahu in power
which is for example what the shas
party's saying which is a loyalist
party for netanyahu which has committed
itself to going into a coalition with
him
and of course the challenger on the
right the breakaway party
of guidon who left likud in order to
challenge netanyahu however
it's worth remembering that israelis
view netanyahu as either someone they
love or hate
not because of pure emotion but because
he represents
fundamentally distinct views on ideology
policy on the core issues that define
israeli life from the
israeli-palestinian conflict to the
nature of israel's democratic
institutions
the judiciary uh to some extent the
economy
of socially liberal ideas versus
conservative
religious views and so israelis are
voting on netanyahu
in support of a world view and which
direction the country will go next
in support of a world view is one thing
but will netanyahu also be able to
profit from the
rather stunning success of the israeli
vaccination campaign
interestingly it hasn't really changed
his electoral fortunes very much so far
in polling and we have lots and lots of
public opinion polls and they've been
very consistent
netanyahu has 36 seats in the outgoing
knesset
and his range almost without any
variation
over this entire election campaign in
the surveys has been 28
to 30 seats with a very slight rise
towards the end
in which a couple of surveys gave him 32
seats now it certainly makes him
the strongest party but it looks like he
will be losing some seats relative to
the last election
uh you might look at the success of the
vaccination policy
and the rollout as retaining his votes
in a situation where he is vulnerable as
you've pointed out
he is on currently on trial for three
different counts of corruption
many israelis simply think he's been
around too long he has been serving for
the last 12 years 15 years cumulatively
if you count the 1990s and in in a
normal situation you would expect his
vote to drop
so perhaps the vaccinations have helped
him retain
first place but they don't appear to be
pushing him
any stronger and certainly the
pro-netanyahu parties
those who would go into the block uh
with in a coalition with him
are still not crossing 60 seats in any
of the surveys we'll see what happens of
course
and we can always expect surprises but
it doesn't seem like the vaccinations
have changed people's minds for or
against him
political analyst stalin in tel aviv
thank you dalia
thank you
you