Likud campaign chief credits data app with Likud’s election gains

The Likud campaign manager on Tuesday credited the party’s improved showing in Israel’s latest round of elections to an application used to help pinpoint potential voters and get them to the polls.

“The whole growth [in seats] from this time to last time, 4-5 seats” was because of the Elector app, the mayor of Lod, Yair Revivo, said in an interview with Channel 12 news.

Revivo was praised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Likud’s “elector” in a post-election speech as exit polls indicated the party would receive 36-37 seats, well ahead of its centrist rival Blue and White.

“Likud didn’t have this database [nationally], so it was all new [this time],” said Revivo, who used the app in his successful mayoral campaigns in 2013 and 2018.

In an interview, Revivo detailed how the app works. A list of Israel’s roughly 6.5 million eligible voters is uploaded to the app, with those who are party supporters marked down.

“You know where he lives, which city, and you call him. If he’s supports you, you mark him. If he was at a [party] event, you mark that he was at a Likud event and that he’s a Likud supporter,” he said.

The app is downloaded by party activists who enter in information about their acquaintances, according to Revivo, creating a pyramid of Likud supporters.

The Lod mayor said there were 20,000 Likud activists across Israel who used the app during Monday’s elections, giving them a sense that their involvement was meaningful.

“That’s what got people out to the polling stations,” he said.