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Feb. 6, 2021
Between 2009 and 2015, the elections in Israel went like that sports cliché: Soccer is played for 90 minutes and in the end Germany wins. Three times in a row, the president gave Benjamin Netanyahu the mandate to form a government, as a near formality. The tradition was truncated in April 2019, when Avigdor Lieberman broke the chorus line and thwarted another ensured term in office for Netanyahu. And that is how we came to be where we are today.
The election procedure in Israel can be divided into three parts: In the first, the political map reshapes itself. Parties rise and fall apart, politicians are ejected and born, frameworks and blocs crystallize. Many careers end in anguish, sometimes disgrace. Others are born in optimism and hope. This is also the most fascinating stage. It ended Thursday night, in the offices of the Central Elections Committee at the Knesset.