Yesh Atid convincingly wins Blich high school poll
Mock election has in the past accurately predicted Knesset results
Yesh Atid won 45.1% of the general vote in a traditional model election at Blich High School in Ramat Gan, which, in the past, was considered a reliable precursor to the election itself.
The Likud, in second place, won 24%, and National Unity finished at third, with 12.4% of the vote.
A few of the parties received 5% or under. Labor won exactly 5%, Religious Zionist Party (RZP) won 4.6%, “Youths on Fire” led by Hadar Muchtar received 2.9% and Meretz received 2.2%. The rest of the parties, including Yisrael Beytenu, Shas and Hadash-Ta’al, received under 1% of the vote.
Blich’s model election was famous for predicting the dramatic upset of 1977, when the Likud overcame the Ma’arach for the first time. Since then, it has been extensively covered. In recent years, however, its results did not foresee the actual results. The previous mock election, held in March 2019 ahead of the April election, had then Blue and White winning 47% of the vote, the Likud winning 21% and Meretz winning 10%, but the Likud ended up winning more votes than Blue and White.
“Thank you to Blich high school, which now also is predicting the correct results,” Prime Minister and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wrote on Twitter.
MKs from a number of parties appeared at the school ahead of the mock vote, including Labor leader and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, Interior
Minister and Habayit Hayehudi leader Ayelet Shaked, Likud MK Yoav Kisch and RZP MK Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Michaeli and Ben-Gvir engaged in a face-to-face shouting match with students gathered around them.
Michaeli said in her speech, “I know Itamar Ben-Gvir from the days before he dressed up as a teddy bear, from the days when he would say wholeheartedly that gays and lesbians have no place here, from the days when he would say wholeheartedly that everything should be closed on Shabbat
and that women should not receive equal rights as men.”
“I know him when he would speak his racism full-throatedly … and I am telling you – he is using you, he is taking advantage that you are young and want to see power.
“But Jewish Power [‘Otzma Yehudit,’ the name of Ben-Gvir’s faction] is to safeguard Israel as Jewish and democratic – in which there will be public transportation on Shabbat, for everyone; in which people are proud to be Israeli, straight gay, lesbian, or whatever else,” she said.
Ben-Gvir complained that the ballot for RZP did not include his faction or name, as it will in the general election.
“An achievement at Blich! In the heart of a left-wing neighborhood, we are double Meretz and equal to Labor. The result would have been doubled or tripled if they had not taken our name [off] of the ballots,” Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter.
Otzma Yehudit added in a statement, “This is an impressive achievement in a school that is considered one of the strongholds of the Left, which indicates that the youth are beginning to open their eyes. This can be seen in the disintegration of Meretz, which did not even pass the electoral threshold – while we won five mandates.”
Ramat Gan mayor Carmel Shama-Hacohen wrote on Facebook, “The winners of the vote in Blich are the students and the school management who enacted a democratic process that empowers and teaches involvement and good citizenship.
“We are really proud, and for good reason, of the amazing youth who showed maturity, activism and expressed their opinions despite all the background noise, while accepting the entire range of opinions and political currents in the State of Israel.
“Those who were responsible for the incidents from time to time were activists and alumni from a variety of parties who, instead of being an example to the youth, should learn and take an example from the students of Blich,” he concluded.