‘Bibi strikes back’. Israeli elections in a transforming domestic and international landscape.

On 17 March 2015 Israeli citizens massively headed to the polls to renew the composition of the Knesset, the country’s legislative body, thereby also electing a new government after the early termination of the ruling coalition elected in 2013.

Despite mounting suspense during the latest rounds of the electoral campaign, and contrary to misleading exit polls, the elections resulted in a decisive victory for Benyamin Netanyahu, the incumbent Prime Minister and the leader of right-wing Likud. Netanyahu’s party gained 30 seats, out of a total of 120, 6 more than its main competitor, the left-wing Zionist Union of the Labour leader, Yitzchak Herzog, and the former Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni.

These results undeniably crowned ‘Bibi’ as the uncontested ‘king’ of Israeli politics, potentially making him the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country’s history: a record virtually outshining the legendary ‘father of the nation’, David Ben-Gurion.

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