Albany, NY -- Yossi Abramowitz for Knesset

Yossi Abramowitz, the quintessential Jewish idealist who's been mentioned in this space a couple of times before, is running for Knesset with his new party, Atid Echad (thanks, Adrien):

The strange tale of his candidacy began in October, when Abramowitz introduced two of his Israeli friends, one an Ethiopian-born activist, the other a teacher. In the vacuum created by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke, the two decided to create a party addressing their two main concerns: education and immigration.

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As the number-three candidate, the possibility of winning a seat seems reachable, because of the way Israeli elections are structured. Voters cast a single ballot for one party, which runs a slate of candidates. If a party gets a minimum of 2 percent of the total vote, the top two names on the party's slate get seats in the 120 member Knesset. The number of additional votes the party receives determines the number of additional seats the party is awarded.

''We'll need about 70,000 votes," Abramowitz predicted. ''It's like filling up Fenway Park twice."

Shai Feldman, director of the Crown Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, said the chance that Atid Ehad could pick up three seats is ''unlikely." No poll has Atid Ehad at 2 percent, but if there was ever a year for a dark horse, this is it.

''You can't exclude the possibility that such a party can make the threshold," Feldman said. ''But the idea that it would get more than two seats -- it really stretches the imagination."

That said, polls are notoriously fuzzy when they are trying to measure the strength of the smaller parties, Feldman said. This election is unusual because, with just a week to go, nearly 20 percent of the electorate is undecided.

In a society as polarized as Israel, that's practically unheard of, and it leaves the door open for single-constituency parties like Atid Ehad.

More power, and good luck, to him! Oh, and check out the snazzy suit...

posted by jbrzoska @ 8:23 PM Trackback Link