The 2019 do-over election brings one advantage to the parties: experience. In April, they learned – often painfully – that every vote counts, and in Tuesday's election activists aren't taking any chances. Here is how each party plans to make sure that its supporters actually cast ballots.
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Likud
The Likud's main concern is about areas where they could have considerable support, but those supporters won't necessarily go out and vote. The Likud has mapped out these areas, and representatives will go around on foot and try to convince people to vote. Likud ministers and MKs have been assigned specific areas, where they are charged with touring polling stations and urging voters to vote for the Likud. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to run a live Facebook stream on Election Day, and keep up his scare campaign of the past few days.
Blue and White
These past few days, Blue and White has been focusing its efforts on the biggest secular stronghold in the country – Tel Aviv. This is a continuation of the "haredim are flooding to the polls" campaign that the party launched on Friday. Some of the heads of Blue and White think that if they can push voter turnout in Tel Aviv to 70%, it will clinch the election for them. One senior party official told Israel Hayom that "70% voter turnout in Tel Aviv means another seat, and in an election that will be decided on a single seat, that's critical."
Yamina (formerly the New Right)
Yamina members spent the last day before the election in a battle to block Netanyahu and the Likud. They brought up Netanyahu's territorial concessions, his support for the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, his release of Palestinian terrorist prisoners, and his bringing leftist leaders into his government.
Yamina leader Ayelet Shaked and her comrades are focusing mainly on the religious Zionist sector that supports Netanyahu, and some of whom are responding to his dire warnings, and as a result have been wavering between the traditional religious Zionist parties and the warm home Netanyahu is offering.
Labor-Gesher
Thousands of activists from the Labor party and Labor youth movement will be knocking on tens of thousands of door nationwide, carrying the message that if Labor-Gesher doesn't make it past the minimum electoral threshold, Netanyahu will have 62 MKs, which will ensure that he assembles the next government as well as his immunity from prosecution. Labor is truly worried that for the first time in its history, the party won't make it over the minimum threshold and will not be represented in the Knesset. In an attempt to prevent such a nightmare scenario, the party has rounded up some 76,000 voters who are disappointed by Netanyahu and Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon and is calling on them to come to the polls and save Labor.
Democratic Union
The Democratic Union is disturbed by what it is calling "the dangerous delusion of Benny Gantz," which is pressing voters to vote for Blue and White to make it the largest party. "Whoever has the majority in the bloc will assemble the government," said Ehud Barak in a briefing to activists on Sunday. The Democratic Union is planning a final PR campaign on social media and various media outlets, as well as by text message blitz, video clips, and even direct appeals by party candidates.
The message? Voting for Blue and White instead of the Democratic Union means the left-wing bloc will lose seats to the Right. In other words: "The meaning of a 'strategic' vote or if the Democratic Union is not represented in the Knesset is that Netanyahu will be prime minister."
Joint Arab List
The Joint Arab List is working assiduously to spur on potential voters to visit their polling places and exercise their democratic right. Average voter turnout in the Arab sector is 55%, but the Joint Arab List hopes to see a repeat of the 13 seats it secured in the 20th Knesset, when the Arab sector saw voter turnout of over 65%. Party leaders are planning vigorous work in the field in the hope of encouraging as many supporters as possible to vote.
A special election headquarters will be based in Nazareth, with dozens of volunteers staffing the phones in an attempt to get out the Arab vote.
Shas
Shas' field team is considered one of the most effective. The party has a list of potential voters and knows where they are according to neighborhood, building, and family. The headquarters has activists who are responsible for contacting a few dozen voters each, and will update the party every few hours. The party is using voter lists that proved very effective in the last round of municipal elections, and also plans to reach out to Shas voters who voted for Kahlon in the last election.
United Torah Judaism
The party has set a goal of 70%-80% voter turnout by 1 p.m. on Election Day. Activist and volunteers will encourage its voter base. The party will operate buses to bring yeshiva students to their polling stations in Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, Modiin Illit, Beitar Illit, and elsewhere. The party also hopes to have time to try and influence the non-haredi sector.
Otzma Yehudit
Aside from a scare campaign of its own designed to bring out voters and prevent a possible unity government after the election, the far-right Otzma Yehudit has put together logistics to get voters out of their living rooms: the party will use hundreds of volunteers nationwide to drive voters to the polls.
Local coordinators will be on hand to ensure that potential Otzma Yehudit voters arrive at the polls. Each one will be assigned a list of wavering voters, whom they will try to persuade to vote for the party. The party's central headquarters in Jerusalem will become a "situation room" that will concentrate all party operations, including a phone campaign.
- Neither Yisrael Beytenu nor its leader Avigdor Lieberman would answer questions from Israel Hayom.
