Together we stand, divided we fall: the Arab minority in Israel’s general elections, 2019-20

This article seeks to analyse the political behaviour of the Arab sector in Israel in the three rounds of general elections held between April 2019 to March 2020. In the first round (April 9), despite high expectations within the Arab sector of seeing a joint Arab list competing in the elections for the 21^st Knesset, the joint list was dismantled. Arab voters expressed their disappointment and stayed away from the ballot box. The political result was a decline from 13 to 10 parliamentary seats. In the second round (September 17) the joint list was reunited and won 13 seats again. In the third round (March 2020) it won 15 seats after competing yet again as a joint party. These experiences show that boycotting the elections harms the Arab minority while combining all political parties brings greater political influence.