Discovering MENA and other thoughts

Hace tres meses Binyamin Netanyahu intentó convocar elecciones legislativas anticipadas, henchido de orgullo por  la ‘Ley Nacional’ que pretendía ver aprobada  y convencido de que sus ciudadanos reconocerían los esfuerzos que el Primer Ministro estaba llevando a cabo en pos de su bienestar y paz futuros, libres de árabes e incluso palestinos incómodos. Hoy por hoy, Bibi no parece tan satisfecho ni confiado. Las últimas encuestas sugieren que Isaac Herzog, líder del partido laborista -hoy mas al centro que a la izquierda del espectro político- en la alianza llamada ‘Unión Sionista’ con Tzipi Livni, está tomando un enorme impulso. A pesar de ello, también nos informan de que una quinta parte de los votantes se declaran aún indecisos.  Algo en lo que coinciden sondeos y expertos es que cada vez más israelíes se declaran partidarios del ‘cualquiera antes que Bibi’.

The introduction on the elections can be found here . According to most forecasts, incumbent Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's alliance won the parliamentary elections, and its leader duly claimed (a humbling) victory. But, as almost no one predicted, the process leading to the formation of a new government has not been as smooth as he would have liked, for the second place was surprisingly awarded to a complete newcomer, Yair Lapid, and his party Yesh Atid ("There is a future"). Naftali Bennett's "Jewish House Party" also did well, although not as well as expected. Moreover, both centrist and leftist parties made significant gains. Meanwhile, far-right parties did not fare as well as polls had indicated. The outcome also showed a new generation is being given shape to, for young voters voted for new candidates that repeatedly publicly denounced their being tired of the never-changing "old regime" of Netanyahu, Lieberman, Barak and the like...