ARAB TURNOUT AT RECORD LOW, PARTY HEADS TALK OF A "POLITICAL CATASTROPHE"

[RandySF]

Fearing low turnout, leaders of the two Arab parties running in the Knesset election on Tuesday appealed to Arab voters to head to the ballot boxes on the pretext that their abstention would strengthen right-wing parties and candidates.

By three o’clock, only 20% of Arab voters had cast their ballots, prompting Arab candidates and leaders of the Arab Israelis to make urgent appeals to their constituents to take part in the electoral process.

The two Arab parties running in the election are Hadash-Ta’al and the United Arab List-Balad. In the last election, they ran together as the Joint List.

Public opinion polls published in recent weeks showed that Hadash-Ta’al, headed by MKs Ayman Odeh and Ahmed Tibi, would get 6-7 seats, while the United Arab List-Balad would receive 4-5 seats in the Knesset.



https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jpost.com/Israel-Elections/Heads-of-Arab-parties-Boycotting-the-election-a-political-catastrophe-586262/amp

[Mike Nelson]

1. Do they have...

… voter suppression in Israel? I know they have it in the US.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. This isn't due to voter suppression

It's a boycott.

[Mike Nelson]

3. thank you...

… I saw a report saying the voter turnout was down, generally, too.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Maybe I shouldn't say "boycott"

I don't think it was organized. It seems to be more a matter of disengagement and hopelessness. Understandable, and yet ironic, given that heavy voting by Israeli Arabs would have moved the political center leftwards and towards peace.

[leftynyc]

5. It's very hard for me to have sympathy

for people that don't vote. 20% is fucking pathetic and in an election as close as this one appears to be, they could have turned the tide and it's their own fault they didn't,

[gratuitous]

6. I've seen voters protest by sitting out elections before

Sometimes it's done in totalitarian states where the pre-written result is 99-100% in favor of whatever despot is in power, to be used as propaganda that he's really the man the people of the nation want. There are other countries where the system is so corrupt that not voting is a protest against all the choices, because they spring from the same poisoned ground.

The systemic oppression of Arabs in Israel has, I think, reached such a point that participating in the system - even by voting - is seen in Arab circles as betraying your people. Neither major party, in their estimation, holds out hope for better treatment of Arabs. Netanyahu or his opposition are two sides of the same coin. Yes, a Netanyahu defeat would be welcome by a lot of people around the globe, and be another blow to Trump's standing, depriving him of an opportunity to brag some more about his political invincibility. But a lot of Arabs in Israel are preoccupied with more immediate concerns than whether Trump endures another humiliation on the world political stage or if Netanyahu is at last deposed.

[leftynyc]

7. Many people here claim the

same stupid thing - that both parties are the same, there is no point in voting. It's a stupid position here and it's a stupid argument there. If you're not part of the solutuin, you're part of the problem and there is simply no excuse in not voting in a democracy - something none of Israels neighbors have the option to do. As many here are now suffering the consequences for not voting in 2016, Palestinians will soon regret sitting on their asses rather than helping make a change. This election was VERY close.

[JI7]

8. israel isn't a totalitarian state where 99-100 percent will go to whoever is in power. Netanyahu is

in legal trouble .

voting can make a difference there.

[gratuitous]

9. One other thing I forgot

Last edited Wed Apr 10, 2019, 12:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Looking over accounts last night and remembering conversation with CPT friends who've lived and been stationed in Israel, there's also the risk to life, liberty and property for a lot of Arab Israelis in being seen or caught in public. Going to the polls to vote is a life-or-death proposition for thousands.

Additional details here.