Israeli General Election 2013

[DL]

There seems to be a ridiculous amount of party switching and floor-crossing in Israel - more than in just about any other country i know of. I usually associate constant party switching with newly democratized countries in the developing world where there is no mature political culture and parties tend to be just temporary "flags of convenience"

Isn't there any loyalty in Israel? Doesn't anyone believe in anything?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It's part of the political culture, isn't it. Hey, even David Ben-Gurion famously left the party that he'd led for something like thirty years...

[Hnv1]

There seems to be a ridiculous amount of party switching and floor-crossing in Israel - more than in just about any other country i know of. I usually associate constant party switching with newly democratized countries in the developing world where there is no mature political culture and parties tend to be just temporary "flags of convenience"

Isn't there any loyalty in Israel? Doesn't anyone believe in anything?

Well the exact opposite happened in Israel, as the state was formed by hard ideologists but with the years the ideologies died 

A funny event today in the knesset. Because of the resignation of Amir Peretz from the knesset, the next person on Labour's list was sworn in. This person happenned to be Yoram Marziano, a Labour MK until 2009. But in a twist, Marziano used his swearing in to announce his resignation from the party and support for Bibi in the elections.

Marziano was fairly hated in Labour, and he wants to be Lod's mayor so he needs Bibi

[danny]

New poll from Ma'ariv:

Likud Beitenu: 37
Labour: 20
JH-NU: 12
Shas: 11
The Movement: 9
Yesh Atid: 7
UTJ: 6
RAAM-TAAL: 4
Meretz: 4
Hadash: 3
Balad: 3
Otzma Leisrael: 2
-------election threshold------
Am Shalem: 1
Kadima: 1

They also had a profile of voters for right wing parties, not including the Haredi (I.E Likud, JH-NU and Otzma)

Religion: secular 54%, traditionalist 27%, national religious 11%, national haredi or haredi 8%.

Age: 18-30 29%, 31-64 55%, 65+ 16%.

Gender: female 58%, male 42%.

Do you support a demilitarized Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria?
66% against
11% support
23% other/dk

Do you support Israeli construction between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim (E1)?
9% against
51% support
40% other/dk

Do you support giving Jews te right to pray at the temple mount?
7% against
71% support
22% other/dk

Do you support higher taxes on the rich?
49% against
41% support
10% other/dk

Should the high court cancel laws of the knesset if it is necessary?
38% against
41% support
21% other/dk

If you could add class time in schools, which subject would you add?
51% science
31% Judaism
18% other/dk

[danny]

There seems to be a ridiculous amount of party switching and floor-crossing in Israel - more than in just about any other country i know of. I usually associate constant party switching with newly democratized countries in the developing world where there is no mature political culture and parties tend to be just temporary "flags of convenience"

Isn't there any loyalty in Israel? Doesn't anyone believe in anything?

This is because of the Israeli electoral system which makes it particularly convenient to do so. Ideological people also split and merge.

[Hnv1]

New poll from Ma'ariv:



Religion: secular 54%, traditionalist 27%, national religious 11%, national haredi or haredi 8%.

I have a hard time accepting that 54% of right wing voters are secular (unless this figure is overwhelmingly Russian) or at least this is not secular as you refer to the secular sector in Israel.
Secular sector in Israel is estimated at 2.5 millions which translates almost completely to the 45 MKs figure by centre-left parties. The poll's demographic cut would be extremely different if it was conducted with Likud voters only (which by my experience are overwhelmingly traditionalists to religious)

[danny]

New poll from mako:

Likud Beitenu: 36
Labour: 18
JH-NU: 13
Shas: 10
The Movement: 9
Yesh Atid: 9
UTJ: 6
RAAM-TAAL: 5
Meretz: 4
Otzma Leisrael: 3
Hadash: 3
Balad: 2
Am Shalem: 2

[Tender Branson]

New Haaretz poll:



LOL at the cartoon faces ...

BTW: Haaretz also has a good polling center for anyone who wants to look them up in English.

Their actual poll also shows the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi gaining ...

[danny]

Cartoon faces are quite normal in Israel, as for the rest of the poll:

Likud Beitenu: 35
Labour: 17
JH-NU: 13
Shas: 13
The Movement: 10
Yesh Atid: 9
UTJ: 6
RAAM-TAAL: 4
Meretz: 4
Hadash: 4
Balad: 3
Kadima: 2

Which politician do you believe the most?

Bibi: 18%
Bennet: 14%
Livni: 10%
Deri: 9%
Shelly: 9%
Lapid: 7%
Lieberman: 5%
None of them: 22%

which politician cares the most about you and your problems?

Shelly: 17%
Bibi: 9%
Deri: 9%
Lapid: 7%
Bennet: 7%
Livni: 5%
Lieberman: 4%
None of them: 33%

Who do you trust on security issues?

Bibi: 38%
Bennet: 9%
Livni: 8%
Shelly: 4%


Who do you trust on economic issues?

Bibi: 37%
Shelly: 14%
Livni: 6%
Bennet: 4%

[danny]

New poll from walla:

Likud Beitenu: 35
Labour: 18
JH-NU: 15
The Movement: 11
Shas: 10
Yesh Atid: 10
UTJ: 6
RAAM-TAAL: 4
Meretz: 4
Hadash: 4
Balad: 3

[danny]

Rehet Bet poll:


Likud Beitenu: 34
Labour: 16
JH-NU: 15
Shas: 13
The Movement: 11
Yesh Atid: 9
UTJ: 6
Meretz: 5
RAAM-TAAL: 4
Hadash: 4
Balad: 3

[Tender Branson]

Interesting chart for those who are not so familiar with Israeli parties (like me):

[danny]

Interesting chart for those who are not so familiar with Israeli parties (like me):

It's interesting but I wouldn't really agree with everything there.

For instance, I don't see why The Movement (Hatnuah) is more secular than Yesh Atid or more right wing than Labour (Peretz defected from Labour to The Movement because Labour wasn't talking enough about peace). Also the entire campaign of Am Shalem is attacking Shas (and even Likud) from a more "secular" standpoint. Also The Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) is definitely more right wing than Likud, certainly as long as Bibi is in charge, even though some of the Likud's members are similar to the Jewish home's opinions.

[Zuza]

Interesting chart for those who are not so familiar with Israeli parties (like me):

It's interesting but I wouldn't really agree with everything there.

For instance, I don't see why The Movement (Hatnuah) is more secular than Yesh Atid or more right wing than Labour (Peretz defected from Labour to The Movement because Labour wasn't talking enough about peace). Also the entire campaign of Am Shalem is attacking Shas (and even Likud) from a more "secular" standpoint. Also The Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) is definitely more right wing than Likud, certainly as long as Bibi is in charge, even though some of the Likud's members are similar to the Jewish home's opinions.

I am also wondered that Balad is to the left and more secular than Hadash. Is that true?

By the way, where is this picture from? It would be interesting to "click on party name for more information".

[Vosem]

I was under the impression Balad has a vaguely Ba'athist, "socialist Arab unity" ideology affiliated with the Assad regime...

[danny]

I was under the impression Balad has a vaguely Ba'athist, "socialist Arab unity" ideology affiliated with the Assad regime...

Arab parties are not my expertise but  that is my understanding. I don't know if this is still their view, but here is a video of their previous leader, Azmi Bishara calling the "Palestinian People" a colonialist invention, and that Palestine is southern greater Syria.

[Hnv1]

Interesting chart for those who are not so familiar with Israeli parties (like me):

It's interesting but I wouldn't really agree with everything there.

For instance, I don't see why The Movement (Hatnuah) is more secular than Yesh Atid or more right wing than Labour (Peretz defected from Labour to The Movement because Labour wasn't talking enough about peace). Also the entire campaign of Am Shalem is attacking Shas (and even Likud) from a more "secular" standpoint. Also The Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi) is definitely more right wing than Likud, certainly as long as Bibi is in charge, even though some of the Likud's members are similar to the Jewish home's opinions.

Balad is right wing (Arab right wing...Baathism) and secular, they promote Pan-Arabism whilst HADASH (or more accurately the ICP in it) should be in the bottom left corner

[Famous Mortimer]

Balad is more militant and extreme in advocating for the Palestinian cause. That might be why they put them to the left of Hadash.

A better explanation though, would just be that they're wrong.

A couple years ago, Balad was actually trying to establish itself as a free market liberal party. They even had membership in the Liberal International for a while.

They've abandoned that though. Now their only ideology is anti-Zionism.

[danny]

New poll:

Likud Beitenu: 34
Labour: 18
JH-NU: 14
Shas: 10
The Movement: 8
Yesh Atid: 10
UTJ: 5
Meretz: 4
RAAM-TAAL: 5
Hadash: 4
Balad: 3
Otzma Leisrael: 3
Am Shalem: 2

[danny]

And here is an election compass if you want to know whee you stand compared to the different parties, I came closest to the Likud.

[Vosem]

I came closest to Kadima, which is mildly depressing as it seems likely they'll be kept out of the Knesset. Next closest is Yesh Atid. My 'grey circle' of acceptable parties is huge, however, and Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, United Torah Judaism, Kadima, Yesh Atid, Am Shalem, and Hatnuah are all inside of it, which you may recognize as being a very wide range of parties. Labor and Shas are both 'on the line'.

[jaichind]

While I do not claim to know a lot about Israeli politics but my came out to Hatnuah or The Movement which just got formed by Tzipi Livni.  Not a huge surprise.

[Donerail]

I get Ta'al, Hatnu'a, Balad, Meretz, and Hadash in my circle, with Labor on the line. Closest ones outside the circle are Ra'am, Am Shalem, Kadima, and Yesh Atid. Closer to UTJ than Likud and closer to Shas than YB, which is kinda weird. Might be a tad closer to Jewish Home than YB, now that I look at it. Furthest away from Otzma Leisrael.

[Supersonic]

I took the Israeli compass test, and landed smack-dab on Likud.

[Zuza]

Balad and Hadash have identical or very close positions on nearly all issues. For what reasons Arab voters support Hadash? Two parties have the same ideology (socialism, secularism) but Balad is obviously preferable for Arabs due to its more clear pro-Palestinian stance.