Israelis go to the polls for the third time in a year, Monday March 2. Prime Minister and head of Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, confronts again Benny Gantz, head of the centrist "Blue-White" formation, with whom he arrived shoulder to shoulder in April and September 2019.

For the first time in the history of the Hebrew state, a head of government is running an electoral campaign despite being charged, in addition for corruption, embezzlement and breach of trust.

A trial is scheduled to open two weeks after Monday's election.

Announced in November, the accusation of Benjamin Netanyahu was to dislodge the Prime Minister, whose part of the local press predicted the end of the reign, the longest in the history of the country.

"A third of voters who say they are on the right are really uncomfortable (with this indictment)," notes Yohanan Plesner, president of the Democratic Institute of Israel, an analysis center in Jerusalem. "But at the same time that does not translate into the voting intentions, because affiliation (to Likoud, party of Benjamin Netanyahu) remains strong," he adds.

The stake of participation

The latest polls put Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponent on an equal footing.

Benny Gantz's meetings are organized with great fanfare. DJ, techno music, pyrotechnic effects, lasers, campaign spots broadcast on the big screen where the candidate appears alongside the American and French presidents Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron: the troops of "Bleu-Blanc" wish to galvanize their supporters, so that they in turn convince voters to vote.

If the respective supports of Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponent remain stable, and the number of undecided people limited, the big unknown remains the participation rate, hence the importance for the parties to bring voters to the office of vote.

The ultra-Orthodox parties allied with the Prime Minister have shown their ability to go en masse to the polls, notably finishing first in September in the conservative Jerusalem.

The coronavirus factor

A daunting challenge for Benny and his left allies, whose voters concentrated in liberal Tel Aviv are seen as more unpredictable.

Defying the forecasts, participation had increased from April to September (+1.5 points) to stand at around 70% in the country.

This time, the parties will have to convince voters to move despite fears linked to the new coronavirus.

"I believe that some people will not vote because of this," said Kal Oppenheimer, supporter of Benny Gantz who said he feared the spread of "false news" by text or on the internet discouraging voters from going to the polls.

To date, seven cases of Covid-19 contamination have been confirmed in Israel.

With AFP

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