An Israeli man casting his vote at a polling station in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2013. (Miriam Alster\/FLASH90\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Undecided or not, Israelis came out to vote: By 4 p.m. Israel time, turnout at the polls stood at 46.6 percent — an increase of 5 percent over the last election, in February 2009.<\/p>\n
The multiplicity of parties presented Israelis with a dizzying array of choices: 32 were in the running, and up to a dozen were expected to land seats in the Knesset. But with so many parties running on similar platforms, and after what many considered a lackluster campaign, many voters said they were disillusioned with their choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one seems good,\u201d Stephanie Daniel, 28, told JTA.<\/p>\n
Daniel, a women\u2019s studies student in Tel Aviv, said she had vacillated between Hatnua, a party focused on negotiations with the Palestinians and led by former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, and the left-wing Meretz party. In the end, Daniel said, she chose Hatnua because it advocates for environmental issues.<\/p>\n
Her dilemma was not uncommon among young Tel Avivis. As they entered or exited their polling locations, many said they were torn between the three center-left parties, Hatnua, Labor and Yesh Atid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did a questionnaire on the Internet\u201d about whom to vote for, said Elian, 27, a political science student at Tel Aviv University. She said that because she was a \u201csocial democrat from birth,\u201d she chose the traditionally socialist Labor. But Elian said she saw the appeal of both Livni and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid, a political newcomer.<\/p>\n
\u201cTzipi [Livni] can lead a state better than Shelly\u201d Yachimovich, the Labor chairwoman, Elian said. \u201cYair Lapid is new and he talks a lot, but Shelly is more my ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uri, 31, a Tel Aviv event planner who preferred to have only his first name printed, also was guided by ideology as he deliberated between Labor, Hatnua, Yesh Atid and Meretz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was social pressure,\u201d he said. \u201cOne friend feels this way, another that way. But everyone knows on the inside\u201d whom they support.<\/p>\n
Uri ended up voting for Meretz, he said.<\/p>\n
Uncertainty lingered on the right, too. Gilad Konforty, 30, an MBA who recently became Orthodox and now studies in a yeshiva, was trying to decide between two Orthodox parties, the Sephardic Shas and the Ashkenazi United Torah Judaism. He went with UTJ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey better represent Jewish values and Jewish character,\u201d Konforty said. While Shas has, at times, cooperated with left-wing governments, UTJ \u201cdoesn\u2019t move around, they don\u2019t capitulate, they don\u2019t compromise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With the right-wing Likud-Beiteinu list widely expected to beat its center-left competitors, some right-leaning voters chose pragmatism over ideology and voted for the party they figured would best be able to influence a Likud-led coalition.<\/p>\n
Guy, 33, a Jerusalemite who works in the technology industry, said he chose the pro-settler Jewish Home party and its Modern Orthodox chairman, Naftali Bennett, over Likud because he wants \u201cto put another kippah in the Knesset.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll work together anyway\u201d said Guy, who also preferred not to have his last name printed. Bennett will \u201cpush the government a little to the right. I think he has more concern for the religious sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
With so many new parties, voters faced the prospect of a large number of first-timers making it into the Knesset.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of new parties that have talked but have not done anything,\u201d said Yaakov, 47, a banker from Tel Aviv also vacillating between Shas and UTJ. \u201cThe old parties didn\u2019t prove themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dor Midler, 21, a first-time voter, said she was voting for Yesh Atid\u2019s Lapid and his list of political neophytes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just left the army, and he\u2019s the best for young people,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s something new. I\u2019m optimistic. At some point it has to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Uri, the Tel Aviv event planner, said the flood of information available to voters rendered decisions more difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou open Facebook, you can see everything that happens,\u201d he said. \u201cBefore it would be that my father votes Likud, so I vote Likud. Now you can see the party platform, what they\u2019ve done, what they haven\u2019t done.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, Likud failed to produce a formal party platform.<\/p>\n
Dina, 76, a Tel Aviv resident who lost a husband and son in Israel\u2019s wars, said she was disappointed with Israel\u2019s entire political system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWherever there are Jews, there are never just two parties,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are too many parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dina said she was a faithful Labor voter for decades until 2006, when she thought the party wasn\u2019t effective and cast a protest vote for the Pensioners\u2019 Party. She said she is voting cautiously for Hatnua’s Livni after flirting with a return to Labor.<\/p>\n
Neither party excited her, though there would have been one politician Dina said that would raise her spirits — Shimon Peres, the 89-year-old former Labor prime minister who is Israel\u2019s current president.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves the state,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s not one job he did where he didn\u2019t succeed. He\u2019s the lighthouse of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Voting.jpg\" "\\"Voting\\"")