For now, opinion polls show that the left has no chance of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Lawmakers Amir Peretz and Itzik Shmuli, by crawling into his government, have turned the Labor Party into a historical relic. Both Labor and Meretz have forgone primaries, leaving power in the hands of their leaders. There is no democracy in the parties of Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid either. This leaves Likud, embarrassingly, as the only democratic party.
Archiv: Itzik Shmuli
Despite Doubts, Israeli Left-wing Parties Due to Discuss Election Merger
Israeli Labor and Meretz parties are expected to discuss the possibility of running together in the upcoming Knesset election, say sources familiar with talks between the two parties.
Negotiating teams on their behalf – or the two leaders themselves – are expected to meet in the next few days, in advance of the deadline for formal submission of party slates to the Central Elections Committee, in nine days‘ time.
Will Israel‘s Left Wing Form an Alliance Ahead of the New Election? First, Heads Need to Roll
„The present need calls for a big and significant left-wing bloc alongside the center,“ said Zandberg, repeating a similar call she made before the last election, which Gabbay rejected after polls held by both parties at the time showed a merger wouldn‘t increase their total number of seats.
Zandberg‘s rushed proposal also signals to left-wing voters that if such a union never comes, the fault would rest with Labor.
Other Labor member do not support a union with Meretz. „In the Labor Party‘s current condition, we need to join Kahol Lavan and run on a joint slate,“ said one of the party‘s lawmakers.