News
Parties finalise electoral lists; Peretz leaves Labour for Livni
A total of 34 political parties yesterday submitted their final lists of Knesset candidates to Israel’s Central Election Committee ahead of January’s national poll.
Despite speculation and talks between their representatives, the Labour Party, Yesh Atid and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah did not reach an agreement to submit a joint list and will instead run separately. As a result, it appears likely that the centre-left vote will be split, leaving the Likud-Beitenu list headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in pole position to form the next government.
The most surprising political manoeuvre of the day was the announcement that former-defence minister Amir Peretz, who had been placed third on the Labour Party list had joined Hatnuah. Peretz, who had been considered a fierce internal rival of Labour Party head Shelly Yachimovich explained that he had “felt baseless hatred from my political home” and that Yachimovich had “rejected my outstretched hand for her own personal reasons.” Labour’s Isaac Herzog, who beat Peretz into second place on the Labour list called the move a “new height” of political opportunism, while Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid described Livni’s party as an “asylum for political losers.”
The Independence Party, formerly headed by Ehud Barak decided not to submit a list of candidates with party members assessing that they would not pass the electoral threshold.
Meanwhile, Ultra-Orthodox party Shas, a perennial member of coalition governments, announced that joint party leader and current Interior Minister Eli Yishai will head their electoral list, with co-leader and internal rival Aryeh Deri filling the second spot. The position of party chairman will remain vacant until after the election, with Yishai and Deri, who recently returned to the party that he led to huge electoral success before being convicted of bribery in 2000, both vying for the leadership. At a news conference announcing the Shas list, Deri wryly alluded to the drama of Peretz’s defection earlier in the day commenting, “As you see, thank God, no one defected, no one fled, we’re all here.”