Yair Golan: Change Government Can Include Arab Parties

Democrats leader Yair Golan has told his partners in the opposition bloc that a change government can be established with Arab parties participating, Amit Segal reported.

Arab participation sits at the center of the post-election arithmetic. One poll gave the Netanyahu bloc 50 seats, the change bloc 53 and the Arab parties 17.

Under those figures, Likud remains the largest party but neither camp can form a government on its own. The change bloc reaches a majority only with the Arab parties.

The poll's party breakdown:

Likud: 25
Yashar!: 21
Yachad: 14
Joint List: 10
Democrats: 10
Yisrael Beiteinu: 8
Otzma Yehudit: 7
Ra'am: 7
Shas: 6
United Torah Judaism: 6
Religious Zionism: 6

Golan responded to the results on Tuesday night, declaring that his camp had been handed a historic opportunity to form a real change government and did not intend to give it up.

"The public has spoken. It has fired Netanyahu's government," Golan wrote. "We are ready to work with all our partners, to bridge the gaps and to take responsibility."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid took a similar line that night, describing the result as a crushing defeat and a collapse for the Netanyahu bloc, and pointing to the change bloc's overall majority rather than the strength of any single party.

Kan reporter Yaara Shapira noted on Tuesday that the outgoing coalition had held 68 Knesset seats. She said the Arab public turned out to vote at high rates, while segments of the chareidi public stayed home as a form of quiet protest.