Rabbi Chaim Amsellem, whose Am Shalem party fell short of the two-seat minimum to enter the 19th Knesset has to decide if he will give it a go this time around, in the elections for the 20th Knesset. Amsellem reports that of late, with election fever in the air, he and his party have received a number of inquiries of possibly teaming up with another party. Just recently Rabbi Amsellem told the media that he had closed a deal with the National Religious party but when Naftali Bennett came and took over Bayit Yehudi, the latter opted to ignore the deal.

The leaders of the party will be meeting in the coming days as they must reach a decision as elections are likely to be held in March 2015. Amsellem has recently probed the possibility of his party joining a larger party, and he awaits a response to these inquiries as well.

In the upcoming election for the 20th Knesset, a party will require enough votes for four seats to meet the new minimum threshold for entering. Parties receiving less than four seats will not enter the Knesset and those votes will be discarded.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)