Were you under that impression that Israel is the only country in the world mired in seemingly intractable political deadlock? Well, fasten your seatbelts and let's take a spin around the streets of Europe.
We begin our journey in Great Britain, where the third general election in the past four years is set to be held on Thursday. If we add the national Brexit referendum to the equation, it will be the country's fourth election in the past four years.
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Although the latest polls indicate a clear victory for the Boris Johnson-led Conservatives, it is far from certain that the people of Great Britain will awaken Friday morning with a stable Conservative-led government that will extricate them, at long last, from the European Union.
Johnson's rivals in Labour are promising a gigantic election surprise, and are basing their confidence on their perception of the atmosphere on the ground – which contradicts what the polls are predicting.
In Spain, the fourth general election in four years was conducted a month ago, without resolving the political impasse. The election winner, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, can establish a coalition with the far-left Podemos party – maybe – if it gets support from the Catalonian separatists, who are thus far reticent to provide it.
In Austria, after the corruption scandal attributed to the young conservative chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, the Austrians returned to the voting stations after a mere two years, which gave the right-wing bloc a solid majority. But Kurz decided he was interested in talks with the Green Party. If these negotiations are finalized in the coming days, it would mark an interesting precedent in Europe that could influence the political situations in other countries. In recent months, Austria has been managed by a "caretaker government of technocrats experts" appointed by the country's president.
In Germany, the broad coalition between the conservatives and socialist-democrats could collapse very soon and trigger early elections. In the wake of the previous election in 2017, a precedent was already established: Although the right-wing bloc won the majority, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of her conservative party have steadfastly refused to partner with the right-wing nationalist, populist Alternative for Germany party – which has prevented the establishment of a right-wing government. Efforts to form an initial coalition with the liberals and greens have failed. Fearing that the more extremist parties would benefit from another election, the two large parties agreed on a unity government, the shoddy foundations of which are currently being tested anew.
In Italy, the political deadlock led to the creation of an unstable coalition between the leftist-populist Five Star movement and the right-wing-populist Lega party, which lasted for less than two years. The socialist-democratic Democratic Party replaced Lega in the coalition. The new coalition is holding firm, but recent polls say Lega, headed by Matteo Salvini, is expected to win big in the next election.
In the Netherlands, a national unity government was established in 2017, 208 days after the fall of the right-wing government and after elections failed to determine a clear winner. Conservative Prime Minister Mark Rutte's refusal to cooperate with Geert Wilders, the leader of the nationalist-populist Party for Freedom, fostered the formation of a flimsy coalition between the conservatives and left-wing parties, which hasn't fallen apart as of yet.
Belgium, the current record holder, went 589 days between 2009 and 2011 without a government.
