With Arab political participation divided between two proportional electoral lists, Israel's fourth general election in less than two years, held in March, saw the Joint Arab List and the United Arab List (the Southern Islamic Movement) win a combined 10 parliamentary seats (six for the former and four for the latter), compared to 15 seats in the previous year's elections. Arab participation in these elections registered a significant decline, and the results are as follows: The total number of votes received by Arab parties in these elections was 379,000, compared to 581,000 in the previous elections.
The failure to mobilize Arab voters also reflects the declining power of Arab parties, amid a widening gap between the Arab public's expectations of their representatives' ability to influence decision-making within Israel. Meanwhile, Arab national agendas have declined, and there is no firm stance toward the Israeli right.
This paper analyzes Arab voting trends and the implications of the election results for Arabs in Israel in more detail.
Arab voting rates
Palestinian voter turnout in the recent Knesset elections fell to 45%, compared to 65% in the previous elections (March 2020). This is the lowest rate in Palestinian electoral participation since the inception of Knesset elections in 1949. Nationally, voter turnout was 67.4%.
Table (1): Participation rate in the Knesset elections since 1996
Year: Knesset session, total turnout (%), Arab turnout (%)
١٩٩٦ ١٤ ٧٧.٠ ٧٩.٣
1999 15 78.7 75.0
2003 16 67.8 62.0
2006 17 63.5 56.3
2009 18 64.7 53.6
2013 19 67.8 57.3
2015 20 72.3 64
April 21, 2019 68.5 49
September 22, 2019 69.8 60
2020 23 71.5 65
2021 24 67.4 45
Source: Mada Center for the Study of the Carmel (2021). Results of the 24th Knesset Elections, Palestinian Community, Haifa.
Table (1) shows the steady decline in the percentage of Arab voters in the Knesset elections since 1999, until 2015, when voter turnout increased with the formation of the Joint List, which included all the Arab parties participating in the elections (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, the National Democratic Assembly, the Islamic Movement, and the Arab Movement for Change). The voter turnout rose to 64% at that time, then fell to 49% in the April 2019 elections after the Joint List split into two lists, the Joint List and the Arab Movement for Change. However, voter turnout rose again in the next two rounds (September 2019 and March 2020) when all the Arab parties joined the Joint List (60% and 65%, respectively), before falling to an unprecedented 45% in the last elections, following another split in the Joint List.
Voting for Arab lists
In the run-up to the last Knesset elections, the Joint List split into two factions, with the United Arab List withdrawing following a disagreement with its constituents (Hadash and Balad) over whether supporting the Israeli right was a viable option. The Joint List rejected anything that might save Netanyahu and his right-wing government, while the United Arab List justified its support by embracing any candidate who met the civil demands of the Arab community: combating crime and violence, ending home demolitions, and allocating larger budgets to Arab local authorities. The United Arab List also demanded that the Joint List commit to not supporting any social legislation that contravenes the “conservative nature of Arab society.”
The Joint List won six seats with 212,048 votes, representing 4.8% of the total vote, while the United Arab List won four seats with 167,132 votes, representing 3.7% of the total vote – the two lists together receiving nearly 380,000 votes.[1] By comparison, in the elections for the 23rd Knesset held in March 2020, the four parties comprising the Joint List received 581,507 votes, representing 12.6% of the total vote. Thus, the 2021 election results show a decrease of 200,000 voters for the two Arab lists compared to March 2020.[2]
Of the total Arab turnout in March 2021, 81% voted for the two Arab lists, while the remaining 19% voted for the Zionist parties. In March 2020, the vote share for the Arab lists and the Zionist parties was 87% and 13%, respectively. Therefore, the majority of those who did not vote for the Joint List in 2021 did not participate in the elections. Table (2): Arab voting patterns after the formation of the Joint List (2015)[3]
2015 April 2019
September 2019 [4]
March 2020
March 2021 [5]
Joint List votes: 446,583, 337,108, 470,212, 581,507, 379,647
Number of seats: 13, 10, 13, 15, 10
Arab participation rate: 64%, 49%, 60%, 65%, 45%
Joint List votes: 82%, 70%, 80%, 87%, 79.5%
Percentage of Zionist parties: 18%, 30%, 20%, 13%, 19.4%
Non-voting percentage: 30% 51% 40% 35% 55%
Source: Mada al-Carmel Center (2021). Results of the 24th Knesset Elections, Palestinian Community, Haifa.
Voting for Zionist parties
Zionist parties intensified their campaigns targeting the Arab community in the last election cycle. Zionist lists placed Arab candidates in prominent positions on their electoral lists: the left-wing Meretz party placed Arabs
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