Tel Aviv's dismal voter turnout could play into Likud’s hands
The Blue and White Party must now focus on persuading Tel Aviv's liberal residents to get out and vote.
Politicians don't usually lose any sleep over Tel Aviv on the eve of elections, as pundits can almost always predict how the city will vote. Tel Aviv is viewed as Israel’s most liberal city and it has historically given much support to Meretz and Labor. It is also very trendy. Middle-of-the-road and ephemeral parties have also gotten the city’s support, such as the Democratic Movement for Change (Dash) in 1977, Shinui headed by Yosef (Tommy) Lapid in 2003, the Pensioners of Israel in 2006 and of course Kadima that same year. Then there was Blue and White in April this year, with 45.7% of its voters from Israel’s first Hebrew city.
If we use the recent April elections as our guide, we can generalize that less than 5% of Tel Aviv voters vote for ultra-Orthodox parties; about 3% for the Arab List and about a quarter to the Likud and its satellite parties. Almost 70% vote for center-left parties in their various configurations.
