Jordan Morgan, Middle East Programme Manager, visits Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as Israel prepares for elections

Between the 6-8th August 2019, Jordan Morgan, Middle East Programme Manager, travelled to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to hold meetings with senior Israeli officials from across the political spectrum. Meetings discussed the forthcoming Israeli elections and programme developments within Forward Thinking’s ongoing political dialogues.  After April’s election proved inconclusive, an intense process of electioneering and political maneuvering is taking place ahead of the forthcoming election on 17th September 2019. 32 parties are due to run compared to 47 in April. This decrease can be attributed to the increased number of mergers and name changes allowing political parties  to run on common platforms ensuring they surpass the electoral threshold currently set at 3.25 per cent. Passing this threshold guarantees Knesset seats based on the number of votes each party, or group of aligned parties, receives. However, tension, division and uncertainty remain as leaders seek to avoid a repeat of the April elections, after which coalition talks failed to form a Government, plunging the country into unprecedented political territory.