Soldiers’ vote is high for Green Leaf party

Some interesting statistics arise from comparing “double envelope” votes – those of IDF soldiers, Israeli diplomatic personnel outside the country, medical personnel on call, patients in hospitals, and prisoners — with results from the general population.

The bulk of votes among the 230,000 come from IDF soldiers, who tend to vote right wing.

Likud wins 25.64% of soldiers’ votes, vs. 23.4% in the general population, while Zionist Union wins 17.71% vs. 18.67%. The Joint (Arab) List wins 3.14%, about a third of the respective number of votes it won in the general population. Also expectedly, Jewish Home did twice as good with soldiers comapred to its achievement in the general public, 12.39% vs. 6.74%, respectively.

But slightly unexpectedly, Meretz gained a seat largely because of the adjustment to the total tally after soldiers’ votes were added in (who would have guessed the most avowedly pro-peace party would gain another seat from the armed forces?). Meretz won 4.56% among soldiers, 3.93% in the general population.

Perhaps less surprisingly, if soldiers alone could decide the fate of the election, I’d be writing this with a joint in my hand: Green Leaf, the pro-legalization of marijuana party which also supports a radically libertarian economic policy, would have passed the electoral threshold with four Knesset seats. The 8,472 votes – 3.64% — the party won among soldiers, however, were not enough to elevate its standing among the general population.