A short-thread on the election results from World Zionist Congress. First, the run-down: https://azm.org/elections/results (1 of 10)

Let's be clear: Participation rate was pretty pathetic (123,000 out of 5.7 million Jews, which I'm not good at math, but is less than 2%?) despite vigorous advertising campaign - does this mean American Jews don't give a damn or thought slates didn't represent? Hard to say (2/10)

On the other hand, WZO claims that was double the rate of participation of last election (2015), so let's take a closer look at who might be participating and why: (3/10)

Biggest vote getter was the Reform and Reconstructing Judaism slate -- so progressive Jews seem to have shown up. #2 is the Orthodox-Mizrachi, and #4 is Mercaz (Masorti) -- is this a kneejerk vote by denomination? Or response to platforms? (4/10)

Classic liberal Zionism is literally stuck in the middle - didn't seem to excite voters much -- or else they found some of the same ideas represented in denominational platforms? [In full disclosure, I waffled between a few platforms but ultimately voted Hatikvah] (5/10)

All told, adding this up, it seems to me that viewpoints representing Orthodoxy, hawkish views on security, and a one-state solution won the day in a combination of slates -- which reflects Israeli politics today -- although like Israel, don't necessarily see eye to eye (6/10)

Another interesting twist - Sephardi-oriented voters rejected World Sephardi-Zionist Organization in favor of SHAS - making SHAS into a global movement of sorts - although we can't tell if Sephardim are voting on ethnic lines. If so their participation rates are low (7/10)

I was surprised to see ZOA come in at #5 - with more votes than the bottom 8 combined -- either their viewpoint appeals to more voters than we think ("the shy Zionist") or they mobilized their voters effectively (8/10)

I was a little sad to see the real innovators -- whether you agree with them or not -- like Vision and Americans4Israel at the bottom of the pack -- did they fail to sell their platforms or candidates effectively? Voters want conventional thinking? Hard to say? (9/10)

The biggest take-away for me is, as referenced earlier, who isn't represented here: Apparently approximately 98% of American Jewry. This has to reckoned with, if there elections are to be seen as representative of anything/anyone going forward (10/10)