BICOM

The Likud Central Committee is set to vote this evening on approving an agreement to run a joint list of parliamentary candidates with Yisrael Beitenu.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beitenu leader Avigdor Leiberman announced the deal last week, in what was dubbed by sections of the Israeli media as the Right’s ‘big bang.’ However, the joint ticket is yet to be approved by the often independent-minded Likud Central Committee, which is set to vote on the deal this evening. Likud’s Government Services Minister Michael Eitan has been very public in his opposition to the joint list, whilst Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar hinted at his opposition in the Knesset, condemning “parties in Israel that do not have democratic elections to choose their representatives to the Knesset,” thought to be an allusion to Yisrael Beitenu.

Netanyahu yesterday met with around fifty Likud mayors and council heads at his Jerusalem residence to apparently convey the importance of approving the joint ticket in this evening’s Likud Central Committee vote. It comes as initial polls indicate that the unified list may not in fact give Likud and Yisrael Beitenu a numerical boost. Their combined seats currently total 42 mandates. A Channel Two poll claims that the joint list would accumulate exactly the same number of seats were an election held now, while a Channel Ten poll puts the joint ‘Likud Beitenu’ list on just 35 seats.

Meanwhile, speaking yesterday, former-foreign minister Tzipi Livni remained tight-lipped over whether or not she will help lead a centre-left party in the upcoming elections.  She said that “It’s not just my decision,” explaining that “We need a bloc and a joint decision on a candidate for prime minister.”