I'm not too well-versed in politics and I am trying to learn. I keep hearing how important it is for Democrats to take control of the legislative branch, especially in a likely win for Clinton.

During the Obama Administration, the 111th Congress was controlled by the Democrats. How effective were they in getting work done during that time? And how would Democratic control in both branches do with some Republicans vowing to prevent Democrats from passing anything?

#Haaretz

http://www.haaretz.com/
March 31st, 2025
Israeli Politics

#Results of the 2025 Israeli Legislative Election

Awaken, children of Israel! For the polls have closed and the results are in, and today we welcome our new Prime Minister our new cabinet, and our new Knesset following the end of this year's legislative election. Once again Israel's unique proportional representation system and its wide breadth of political parties has shone through, with yet another coalition government coming to power. The coaltion that has formed the new government can generally be summarized as a centrist/left-wing coalition, composed of the following parties, holding 66 seats:

As can be seen in the actual results published below, the Zionist Union political alliance and the Yesh Atid party dominate the coalition with a relatively small gap between the two in terms of seats and percentage of the popular vote, which lead to some early disputes as to who would actually be the Prime Minister, delaying the formation of the government. A few hours after the results were confirmed, it was announced that Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid had agreed on a system of rotation, with each serving two years of the four year term (similar to the solution proposed by the Zionist Union in the 2015 Election had they won), but shortly after that decision was retracted and it was announced that Yair Lapid would serve as the sole Prime Minister of Israel. This has left some observers puzzled as to what is happening concerning Tzipi Livni, as this is the second time she has backed out of a rotation agreement. Many would speculate it has something to do with swirling rumors of her declining health, but that is merely speculation. Nevertheless, she is still taking a position in the cabinet.

What we can confirm we actually know however, is the new cabinet that has been selected by Prime M

The government has decided with a unanimous vote to dissolve the Knesset only a few months before the deadline in November. The key points of this election are expected to be:

• The military catastrophe of 184 dead IDF troops
• The justification and morality of the breach of the ceasefire line
• Our relations with the United States
• The housing crisis
• Israel's relations with Egypt
• Hasidic service in the IDF
• Iran
• As always, Palestine, the settlements, the Gaza blockade and Hamas

With the current government's approval rating at record breakingly low levels and Netanyahu on suicide watch, Likud are not expected to win this election. This power vacuum could be filled from a number of directions: a new centre-right replacement, a party from the left, or even an Orthodox coalition could challenge and topple Likud.

#Parties

###Likud

The current reigning party and in power since 2009, they have received huge criticism from the population and are at all time low approval ratings. Netanyahu has been the main target of this ire, primarily due to Operation Righteous Vengeance which many critics and members of the IDF are calling the worst military action in Israeli history. They have not only failed to improve Israeli relations with the west they have made them many times worst to the extent that some have fully embargoed us.

###Israeli Labor Party

The Zionist Union has been divided again into the Israeli Labor Party, Hatnuah and Green Movement. The Israeli Labor Party have traditionally been the left wing rivals of Likud, and they are hoping that their main policy of "not being run by Netanyahu" will carry them to victory. They have been criticised as bland and overly centrist, trying to appeal to the fleeing Likud voters. They are the firm favourites and the election is theirs to lose.

###Joint List

The main Arab political alliance has gained increased support from the Israeli Arab population as well as some more radical elements of the Jewish far left looking for a mainstream anti-Zionist party. The Joint List consists of many diverse parties, their main unifying policy being the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. With the internationally condemned Israeli actions in the Syrian Golan Heights their argument has more weight behind it than they have enjoyed in recent history.

###Yesh Atid

If there will be a challenger to the Israeli Labor Party it will probably come from Yesh Atid. In contrast to Yesh Atid's personal attacks on Net

Strangely, the Prime Minister has called for an election earlier than expected.

##Results

A 600 MP Knesset was created, less than half of last election's seats.

Shas has seen an extreme rise in approval. Despite having a majority themselves, they have formed a coalition under the incumbent Hershel Shmerkin. An opposition of the other two parties, calling themselves the Democratic Resistance under Joint List's leader Haydar Haris Totah.

In the election, Atar's incumbent Zionist Union faced losses due to a sharp drop in Atar's approval rating. A poll earlier this month estimated a 39% approval rating, compared to the 74% at the time he was elected. Critics say that Atar abused the military in the nationwide October riots, while his supporters say it was in defence of the safety of Israelis. Atar dismissed his critics' claims.

##Results

This election, exactly 200 MP seats are available. The results were:

A coalition between the Zionist Union, Joint List, Yesh Atid, Kulanu, and Meretz created a 51.5% majority for Atar to continue his term as Prime Minister. Likud became the main opposition, headed by Yariv Levin. Shas failed negotiations with Likud for a coalition, so they are alone led by Avraham Michaeli.

The Zionist Union was unpopular in this election due to Atar's past election. Joint List was most popular, with Likud and Shas also having significant power.

##Results

There were a total of 1,427 MP seats created due to the military government's promises for more representation. 714 seats are needed for a majority.

Shas partnered with Likud and Meretz to form a majority headed by Prime Minister Hershel Shmerkin. Shmerkin wants a religious Israel invading Lebanon to spread Judaism. In agreement with Likud, they will abolish all forms of welfare.

This is a dark day for Israel.

The Election

Tomorrow and on Saturday (8 and 9 October), there will be a legislative election in the Czech Republic. Voters will choose a new composition of the Chamber of Deputies (Poslanecká sněmovna) and will therefore indirectly decide who will become the next prime minister.

Electoral system

The Czech parliament consists of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Most power lies in the Chamber of Deputies, which oversees the government. The Senate has mostly advisory powers and a soft veto, although it must consent to any constitutional amendment and some important international treaties. Members of the government, including the prime minister, are appointed by the president and he is theoretically free to choose anyone for the office of the prime minister, but other ministers must then be presented to the president by the PM.

The 200 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected in 14 constituencies by open list proportional representation. In each constituency, every party or coalition presents a list of candidates (about 14-36 people) and depending on their nationwide result, the first top n candidates on the list are elected. This is further complicated by the fact that voters can "circle" up to four candidates of the party/coalition they are voting for, giving them "preferential votes" and moving them above their assigned place in the list. The electoral threshold is 5% for parties, 8% for coalitions consisting of 2 parties and 11% for 3+ party coalitions. Interestingly, this is the first election using this system, as the Constitutional court has declared the previous system unconstitutional in February (the previous system had even higher thresholds for coalitions and different math behind seat allocation that favoured larger parties).

The Parties and Coalitions

This list contains only the entities that have a real chance of passing the threshold based on recent polls and they are ordered by their projected result based on this model that takes into account both poll aggregation and betting rates.

ANO (RE): Big tent populist movement of the current PM, Andrej Babiš. Started as a centre-right party, but at the moment, their electoral base consists mainly of pensioners and they mostly changed their focus accordingly. Even though ANO is a member of Renew Europe, Babiš is a soft euroskeptic and he doe

Currently, all Hong Kong (HK) pro-democratic politicians, lawmakers and leading activists are either in prison, on remand awaiting a criminal 'trial' or in exile!

CCP arbitrary creates 'red lines' to entrap HK people within its monolithic power structure which includes the non-independent judiciary. The upcoming HK 2021 LegCo elections are just another example of CCP's ever growing 'virus of governance' that to date has resulted in the deaths of at least 77million people in China since 1949.

There is no legitimacy to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), HK government nor their 2021 HK Legco 'elections'.

https://www.wethepeopleofhk.com/post/communist-hk-s-illegitimate-2021-legislative-council-elections

WTPOHK suggests HK people boycott ALL HK 'elections' until, under UN international treaty obligations, there is universal and equal suffrage elections for the Chief Executive, Legislative Council and District Councils.

Be water. Gai yau!

For the first time, Yesh Atid have achieved a plurality, picking up voters from Likud as well as Labor voters disappointed in the lack of aggression from the opposition in the last Knesset. The President has given Lapid of Yesh Atid the task of forming a government and building a coalition.

He has formed a government consisting of Yesh Atid, Labor, Kulanu and the Green Union. This gives the government a slim majority of 65 out of the 120 Knesset seats. The opposition will be led by Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home.

Netanyahu's Likud has fallen far, from being the ruling party for a decade with 30 seats in the last election, they have now won just 10 and are not even the largest party in the opposition.