Despite having rejected a plea from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to unite all right-wing parties into a bloc to avoid wasting votes, Bayit Yehudi and Ichud Leumi have rejected the notion of signing an agreement with Otzma Yehudit, and it appears unlikely agreement will be reached with the Yachad party.

Recent polls have shown that many of the smaller right-wing parties will not pass the minimum threshold of 3.25%, which today is estimated to be about 136,000 votes. If a party fails to earn the minimum number of valid votes, then the votes are trashed. Polls show that Yachad, Gesher, Magen and the New Land parties are among those which do not enter Knesset. In recent polls, Zehut and Shas have also been riding the fence, making it into Knesset in some polls, while dropping below minimum threshold in others.

Bayit Yehudi has even refused to sign a deal to unite for elections only, and then split once in Knesset regarding Otzma Yehudit, which is viewed as extreme right-wing. Party leaders fear uniting with the party will result in a migration of voters to another party.

KAN News reports that Bayit Yehudi party officials, a party that fails to get into Knesset in some polls, has proposed a technical union with Likud and the New Right party, citing immediately following elections, they will split back into separate parties. This would guarantee getting into Knesset and strengthening the right-wing.

The clock is winding down as the deadline for submitting party lists is 10:00PM Thursday night, so the parties would have to decide on their combined lineup and submit it before the deadline.

Once again, PM Netanyahu is stepping up his pressure, working to persuade the smaller right-wing parties to unite to avoid wasted votes and this may result in the establishment of a left-wing coalition government.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)