Explainer: A timeline of Israel’s elections 2019-2022 (Part 1)

Israel faces its fifth round of elections since 2019 on November 1, and polls show varying results.

For an Explainer on how Israel’s parliament (Knesset) works: Click here. 

While Israelis prepare for a day off work, i24NEWS looks back on how Israel got to this point. 

April 2019 

In 2015, Benjamin Netanyahu - leader of the right-wing Likud party - won his fourth term as prime minister, putting together a ruling coalition at the last minute. Then-president Reuven Rivlin gave Netanyahu an extension - until May 6 - to build a coalition, and the long-term prime minister managed, just two hours before the deadline. 

The government - composed of the center-to-right parties of Likud, Jewish Home, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, and Shas - was approved by the plenum of the Knesset on May 14, after a debate, by a vote of 61–59.

Right-wing Yisrael Beitenu joined the coalition in May 2016. 

It was mostly smooth sailing until November 2018, when then-defense minister Avigdor Liberman - head of Yisrael Beitenu - resigned. 

Clashes between Gaza and Israel began on November 11, 2018, when a botched Israeli covert operation carried out in the Khan Yunis region of the Gaza Strip killed seven Palestinian militants and one Israeli soldier. 

Exchanges of fire lasted for two days after, until a ceasefire was reached.

After the two days of violence, Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas, the militant group controlling the Gaza Strip, which Liberman decried as a "surrender to terrorism." 

Liberman's resignation left the prime minister with just 61 out of the 120 seats in the Knesset. 

Shortly after, coalition disagreements arose over a bill to draft ultra-Orthodox men into the military and Netanyahu's pending indictment for corruption. 

Elections were due on November 5, 2019, but Netanyahu called for early elections, which took place on April 9 of that year. 

Likud won 35 seats in the April elections, however, the center Blue and White party, led by Benny Gantz, did so as well. 

Gantz conceded, and the mandate to form the government was given to Netanyahu, who had until May 29, 2019, to create a coalition. 

While the right-wing bloc seemed to have a majority, Netanyahu couldn't form a coalition. The issue was the same: the ultra-Orthodox draft bill.

Liberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party insisted it be passed, while the ultra-Orthodox parties refused to allow its passing, with Liberman insisting that he would not join a coalition with the ultra-Orthodox parties. 

The deadline passed, and no coalition was formed, leaving Rivlin tasked with giving the mandate again, presumed to be given to Gantz.

On May 28, the Knesset passed the first reading of a bill to dissolve itself and force a snap election - intended to place additional pressure on coalition partners to reach an agreement in time and prevent Gantz from being given the opportunity to put together a coalition.

Later that day, the bill was approved for a second and third reading. 

The Knesset's legal advisor said that if the government passed legislation to dissolve itself, it would prevent Rivlin from designating another lawmaker to form a coalition, giving Netanyahu all the more reason to call for Knesset dispersal. 

One day later, it was announced that talks failed. That night and into the morning of May 30, the Knesset passed second and third readings of the bill to dissolve itself and force a snap election with a vote of 74 in favor to 45 against.

September 2019

The second elections of 2019 were held on September 17, the first time in Israeli history that two elections were held in the same year.

President Rivlin said in a Facebook video that he would do everything to prevent a third round of elections, calling on all Israelis to vote. 

Gantz's Blue and White came out slightly ahead of Likud, with 33 to 32 seats. 

On September 18, Netanyahu met with the Yamina, Shas and United Torah Judaism parties to build a right-wing bloc.

Rivlin selected Netanyahu to attempt to form the thirty-fifth government of Israel on September 25, stipulating that if the attempt failed, Rivlin retained the choice to nominate another candidate.

The Yisrael Beitenu party held fast to its refusal not to join forces either with the right-wing ultra-Orthodox bloc or with the center-left bloc, advocating the formation of a national unity government.

Netanyahu was unable to form a government, turning the mandate back over to Rivlin on October 22. The task was assigned to Gantz the following day, but he was unable to form a governing coalition.

For the first time, Rivlin handed over to the Knesset the mandate to form a government, and after 21 days of unsuccessful attempts, on December 11, the Knesset decided to declare early elections.

March 2020

During the March 2 elections, Likud pulled ahead with 36 seats - compared to Blue and White's 33. 

However, on March 8, 2020, Liberman gave Gantz his backing to form a new government. Shortly after, Rivlin announced he had given Gantz the mandate to form a new government.

Prior to the elections, Gantz vowed that his government would not include Netanyahu. Yet, Gantz backtracked shortly after, and, on March 21, Netanyahu announced negotiations were completed for a national unity government with a rotating prime ministership where Netanyahu served first, to later be replaced by Gantz.

This step - Gantz negotiating with Netanyahu - resulted in Blue and White disbanding into three factions: Yesh Atid and Telem, who refused to negotiate with Netanyahu and founded a joint Knesset faction with 16 members.

Gantz denied negotiations were completed, stating they were still underway. And yet, the negotiations between the two expired after the two failed to produce a governing coalition by the April 15 deadline. 

A day after the deadline passed, Rivlin once again turned the mandate over to the Knesset, giving them 21 days to choose a new prime minister. 

On April 20, Netanyahu and Gantz signed the original coalition proposal that made Netanyahu prime minister for 18 months, then Gantz would take over for the next 18 months. 

So Netanyahu took the role of leader again in the first binding rotation government that Israel has seen...

For part 2 of this series, click here.