Quoting his American pollster John McLaughlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday the Joint Arab List could win as many as 15 seats in Tuesday’s Knesset election.
Netanyahu made the prediction at an emergency meeting with Likud politicians in Jerusalem at his official residence which included ministers Ze’ev Elkin, Yoav Galant, Gila Gamliel, Ophir Akunis and David Amsalem, as well as deputy minister Tzipi Hotovely, MKs Gideon Salar and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair Avi Dichter.
According to Dichter, a fluent Arabic speaker, the Palestinian Authority is publicly urging Israeli Arabs to get out and vote for the Joint List.
As of 4:00 pm, voter turnout had reached 44.3 percent, already 1.5 percent higher than the previous election this past April.