The race for the 20th Knesset and the 34th government has reached its final stretch. By Tuesday night -- or perhaps on Wednesday morning -- the people's verdict will have been handed down. As is the case with every election, we may be in for a surprise. If the tabulated results bear resemblance to the projected Knesset makeup, then the election will have been a missed opportunity, an opportunity for bolstering the two major blocs and promoting a two-party system. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu still dominates the political landscape, but he will not be able to consolidate his grip. In that sense, the elections will be very much like one held two years ago. If Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog becomes prime minister, even if this is done through some power-sharing deal that involves a rotating premiership, the Knesset's dissolution will have gone to waste. In fact, the election will have been a waste of time even if Netanyahu manages to secure an exclusive hold on the premiership through some patchwork of coalition deals. He could have created an alternative coalition without calling early elections right after he fired Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, if he had replaced Hatnuah and Yesh Atid with the ultra-Orthodox parties. But Foreign Minister and Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman torpedoed Netanyahu's efforts -- and essentially undermined his own fledgling campaign. Ideally, the Zionist Union and Likud will serve as the linchpin for the next government. This will bolster Israel's image abroad. It will also allay the fears of Israelis in the large settlement blocs who are concerned about their possible eviction. Such a coalition would also be instrumental in changing Israel's electoral system. Only a partnership between the two major political blocs can end the Knesset's chronic fragmentation, a 20-year phenomenon. Israel has tinkered with electoral reform on multiple occasions. Virtually every remedy was tested: We had direct elections for the prime minister; we even tried to raise the electoral threshold. Whether or not Yisrael Beytenu has dug its own grave by introducing the new threshold will become apparent only on Tuesday night. The latest attempts to tweak the system should have Netanyahu and Herzog in lockstep. That is why it is essential for Israelis to wake up from their slumber and shed apathy. I would like to see long lines at the polling stations. This is the only way to offset the clout of the radicals on both ends of the spectrum, who tend to arrive in droves. When I was a teen, the election fliers would end with the words: "Get out and vote, by the dozen!" These words apply just as well today. After all, free and fair elections are the pinnacle of democracy; a day to celebrate democracy. This is true everywhere, but all the more so in the Middle East's only democracy.
