In a war-torn Beiteynu, people disert the polls
The ruling pro-business lobbyist party was able to secure a slim majority in the Knesset.
May 5473
The Knesset in Yishelem. The lobbyists will rule there for four more years.
YISHELEM, ENDILD - The much anticipated March elections for the Knesset, which analysts and political scientist predicted could have resulted in the collapse of the ruling Hevrat Lobbyist party, saw instead Prime Minister Jacobstone's party retain a very slim majority (76 to 74) in the Knesset, Beiteynu's legislature. One of the reasons the formerly dominanting Labour Party wasn't able to obtain more voters is the extremely low turnout: only 15.5% voted, mainly because much of its base hoped for a less war-hawk behavior in wake of the Beiteynuese-Lourennais war, which wasn't the case for MH. Immediately after the results were announced, several MH members asked the resignation of PM Jacobstone, unlikely to arrive, as well as the resignation of some of the most hawkish Labour ministers, like MOD Saltzman, FM Epstein and a couple more, as opposed by the now vocally pacifist approach of MOIA Peres and MOJ Montefiore; in all of this, the Leader Aristocrat-Goldbloom has tried to maintain a balanced approach in order to satisy everyone - but the election result shows clearly that there was much disappointment anyways.
We asked MOJ Montefiore for a comment:
It is disgraceful. We all supported this cabinet in the war efforts, but when it was clear we were not going to win, different decisions should have been taken. PM Jacobstone alongside some members of my party should assume responsibility for this and resign.
To which the hawkish Saltzman replied:
The rats are jumping off the boat I see. Make no mistake: these supposedly pacifist Ministers did nothing concrete on their end to resolve the conflict. They just let me and the PM take the blame.
MH is clearly experiencing internal distress, and we'll see what the leader of the party, which after all secured the trust of half the voting population, will decide on the future of the party. Many pundits are expecting mass sackings of the most radical ministers on either side, and a centrist rebranding, while others suggest the most radical pacifist wing will take over the MH. On the other side, it is not clear either what's going to happen to the HL; true that Jacobstone and friends have just been re-elected, but the low turnout means something also for them: that the country was distressed against lobbyists too - what will happen to them?