Yamina steady with 7 seats

Yamina will keep its seven seats in the Knesset, according to exit polls, meaning that if Benjamin Netanyahu succeeds in forming a coalition, Naftali Bennett stands a good chance at remaining Israel’s defense minister.

After voting in the morning, Yamina leaders spent Election Day on the move, from Jerusalem to Modi’in, from Lod to Petah Tikva, while posting several messages on their social media profile to persuade right-wing voters to get out and vote for them.

The past year has been quite a torment for the parties, which united under the Yamina umbrella, both in terms of results and in terms of political alliances.

The New Right, led by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett and former Justice Minister and Yamina MK Ayelet Shaked, failed to pass the electoral threshold in the April elections. Ahead of the September vote, forming an alliance with Bayit Yehudi, led by Education Minister Rafi Peretz – a party Bennett and Shaked had departed – and with Transportation Minis. Ahead of the third round, a new ugly controversy arose when Peretz decided to form an electoral merger with farright Otzma Yehudit, while Smotrich forged a deal with Bennett. Pressured by other prominent members of the party, Peretz eventually decided to give up Otzma to enter the Yamina alliance.

“The Right won, and now we’ll make sure that the right-wing way wins too,” Bennett commented after the first exit polls were released. “As we promised before the elections, we will recommend to the president that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu establish a national right-wing government.”