With a final counting placing Likud firmly above Labor at a gap of 30 seats to 24, elections statistics reveal the great divides in political outlook separating various regions of Israel; so, just which locales went for which parties?
In Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem, Likud got 24% of the valid votes cast, although the large haredi population in the city made its presence felt in the ballot box, with United Torah Judaism (UTJ) receiving 21% and Shas coming next at 11% of the vote. Labor received 9%, followed by Jewish Home at 8% and the Yachad – Ha’am Itanu joint list with Otzma Yehudit – which fell just short of making it in to the Knesset – next at 7%.
Tel Aviv and Yafo presented a different story altogether, with Labor taking the city with 34% ahead of Likud at 18%. The far-left Meretz party came in next at 13%, and Yesh Atid at 11%. Despite his Tel Aviv hipster ad campaign and efforts to appeal to the secular Tel Aviv public, Naftali Bennet’s Jewish Home received a mere 3%.
Haifa also went for Labor over Likud but just barely, with a gap of 25% versus 20%, followed by Yesh Atid at 11% and Kulanu at 8%. A high Arab voter turnout was also seen in the mixed city, with the joint Arab list garnering 8%.
Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev, gave Likud 37% in an overhwelming defeat of Labor, which received 12%, as did Yisrael Beytenu.
Further south in Eilat, Likud got 35% as opposed to 17% for Labor. Kulanu and Yesh Atid received 11% and 10% respectively.
Judea-Samaria right, Gaza Belt left
Unsurprisingly, in Judea and Samaria the votes tended towards right-wing religious parties. In Ariel, the largest city in Samaria, Likud won 46%, followed by Yisrael Beytenu at 15%, with assistance from the city’s large Russian-speaking population, and 13% for Jewish Home.
The trend rightward was more pronounced in smaller towns in Samaria, with 74% of Yitzhar voting for Yachad and 20% for Jewish Home. In Itamar, 44% went with Jewish Home and 40% with Yachad, as Likud received only 8%.
But in the Gaza Belt region surrounding the coastal Hamas enclave, which absorbed the brunt of Hamas’s terror war last summer, the votes went heavily in favor of Labor and the left.
Be’eri, a kibbutz in the region that was hard-hit in the war, voted for Labor by a margin of 66%, and Meretz received 16%. Likewise in Nahal Oz Labor got 56% and Yesh Atid 16%, followed by Meretz at 9%.
Likud received 41.4% in Sderot, however, which is not a Labor movement community.
In the Arab cities there were no surprises, with the joint Arab list monopolizing the votes. In Taibe 95% voted for the Arab list, and in Umm Al-Fahm 95% voted for the list as well.
