Knesset's Second-Largest Party Unfazed by High Arab Turnout

A Yesh Atid candidate told Sputnik that his center-left party hoped to emulate their surprise success in the 2013 elections, when the party secured 19 seats.

TEL AVIV (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova — The Israeli Parliament's second-largest party Yesh Atid is not threatened by the record turnout of Arab voters, its candidate told Sputnik Tuesday.

"We know that Arabs are showing the highest vote turnout ever but, as of today, I haven't heard of even one faction that wants to include Arabs into the coalition," Yoel Razvozov said.

The politician added that his center-left party hoped to emulate their surprise success in the 2013 elections, when the party secured 19 seats.

"Despite numerous attempts to destroy us and during this election campaign, people believe in us," Razvozov said.

The ruling Likud party and opposition Zionist Union party are the main contenders in the 2015 vote, with the latest opinion polls suggesting Yesh Atid could win up to 14 seats in the parliament.

"This party holds an aggressive campaign and reaches out to its target electorate on a daily basis," former head of Nativ, the Israeli government agency for promoting immigration from the former Soviet Union, Yakov Kedmi told Sputnik.

Earlier, opposition politician Tzipi Livni said her Zionist Union party was well-placed to win the elections, after more than 36 percent of Israeli voters had cast their ballots.

Some 5.8 million people are eligible to vote on the determination of the 120-seat Israeli parliament.