Two parties on Israel’s far political right are in negotiations to see if they will unite under a single banner ahead of the upcoming elections scheduled for April 9th. The parties, National Union and Otzma Yehudit, have been in discussion for the past few weeks to see if they will agree on an alliance.

Currently, election polls are showing that neither party will pass the threshold on their own.

Over the past few days, there has been significant progress between the parties headed by Betzalel Smotrich and Baruch Marzel respectively. Eli Yishai, whose Yachad party teamed up with Otzma Yehudit in the past has not been involved in these negotiations.

Additionally, the National Union party is not waiting to see which faction will end up leading the Jewish Home party. They are hoping to create a right-wing bloc with Otzma Yehudit before that decision is made.

“Out of responsibility for preventing a split in the right-wing parties that could lead to losing seats in the bloc and the establishment of a left-wing government after the elections, we are ready for compromises and spare no effort to create a technical framework that will ensure that no vote is lost,” said a statement made by the National Union.

Chairman of OTzma Yehudit Dr. Michael Ben-Ari said, “In order to prevent splits, we always wanted a technical bloc, and therefore we will make every effort to join forces as much as possible, especially in view of the fact that in 2009 the connection proved itself.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)