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Talks took place yesterday between representatives of Israel’s Labour Party, Yesh Atid and Tzipi Livni’s new Hatnuah Party with a view to presenting a joint electoral list.

However, with the deadline for parties to submit their list of Knesset candidates to the Central Elections Committee set at 10pm this evening, the prospect of any agreement between the parties appears unlikely.

All three parties appeared to publicly state their willingness to join forces while placing the blame elsewhere for the failure to reach an agreement. Hatnuah leader Tzipi Livni claimed that Labour leader Shelly Yachimovich and Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid had rejected her overtures for cooperation, saying “From Shelly Yacimovich I got three nos: no to an official merger, no to adding additional people, no to a rotation…From Yair Lapid, to whom I proposed only a combined list, I got one big no.”

Yachimovich explained that the idea of a rotating leadership was not an option, as Labour is a democratically elected party and that she had approached Livni and suggested that Hatnuah join Labour. Yachimovich told Channel Ten, “As far as I’m concerned, until the last minute Livni can respond to my offer and join us.”

Meanwhile, Yesh Atid has already submitted its list of Knesset candidates and last week party leader Yair Lapid commented on the possibility of joining forces with Hatnuah, saying, “Livni refused all of our offers due to ego-related considerations, and that is her prerogative.”

In a related story, according to a short report in Ynetnews, Knesset Member Amir Peretz is set to leave Labour and join Hatnua. Peretz was ranked third on the Labour Party’s Knesset list.

In other election news, former-prime minister Ehud Olmert finally confirmed that he would not be a candidate in the upcoming election. As a result, Kadima was able to finalise its list of candidates yesterday, having left the door open for Olmert’s possible return. Party leader Shaul Mofaz heads the list and is followed by current MKs Israel Hasson and Yohanan Plesner.