How Did Yachimovich Lose The Israeli Center to Lapid?
Yair Lapid, leader of Yesh Atid and the big winner in the Israeli elections, succeeded where Labor leader Shelly Yachimovich failed, by accurately capturing the frustrations and hopes of centrist voters, writes Mazal Mualem.
The most resounding failure in the recent elections has been attributed to Labor Party head Shelly Yachimovich. Yachimovich, the leader of Israel’s social-democratic party, neglected the political banner for almost total preoccupation with socio-economic issues. She was supposed to provide the natural home for the hundreds of thousands of citizens who pitched tent encampments on the boulevards and demonstrated on the city streets in the summer of 2011 — and she was the one to receive the most resounding slap in the face. Even more painfully, those same people voted in droves for Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid — who hadn't been at all important during the protest days.
Yes, Yachimovich managed to recruit three of the most prominent protest leaders into her party: Stav Shaffir, Itzik Shmuli and Professor Yossi Yonah. But she failed in the real test: she failed to convince the public that she has the answer to their problems.
Now that the initial shock has dissipated, the fundamental question has become clearer: How did Yachimovich lose those hundreds of thousands of social-protest votes? And why did they follow Lapid, who is identified with the country’s rich?
The first, simple answer is that Yachimovich, as leader of Israel’s main leftist party, couldn't do what Lapid, at the head of a centrist party, did: abandon the political banner, and stubbornly shake himself free of the political discourse surrounding the subject of the settlements and territories. That caused her to lose an important segment of voters that migrated to Zahava Gal-On's Meretz party or Tzipi Livni's Hatenua party, both of whom waved the banner of political compromise.
