נתניהו בכנס ירושלים
נתניהו בכנס ירושליםצילום: מאיר אליפור

A comprehensive study of the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University examined the attitudes of Arab society in the run-up to the 24th Knesset elections over the last ten days. .

According to the survey, Arab voter turnout will be relatively high (59.7%), although still within ten percent of where it was for the past two elections. Compared with the data collected at the beginning of the election campaign, it appears that Arab interest in political participation is on the rise. Some 82.5% say that Arab women should be taking a stronger position in politics overall.

A total of 46.0% of respondents believe that an Arab party is the only one that can work for the Arab public. 18.0% would be willing to join a center-left government. 21.3% say that the Arab vote is best used as part of the opposition. In total, about 87% of Arab voters support entering the Knesset in some manner; only 13.0% believe that Arab parties should not take part at all.

Arab voters are expected to bring 8.3 seats to the joint list (Hadash-Balad-Ta'al) led by Ayman Odeh, 4 seats to the United Arab List (Ra’am) led by Mansour Abbas, and 1.6 seats to the Likud led by Netanyahu. The Meretz, Yesh Atid, and Ma'an - Yahad parties (led by Muhammad Darawshe) are expected to receive about half a seat from Arab voters each.

Arab voters say that the most suitable candidate for the post of prime minister is Benjamin Netanyahu (24.9% of respondents), followed by Ahmad Tibi (14.3%), Yair Lapid (13.9%), and Iman Odeh (11.7%). Other candidates are Mansour Abbas (4.7%), Gideon Saar (4.6%) and Benny Gantz (2.4%). 10% say that none of the candidates are acceptable.

Survey participants were asked what is the most important issue to deal with after the election, voting for the implementation of the government program to combat violence (58.6% of respondents).