Moshe Kahlon
Moshe KahlonFlash 90

Moshe Kahlon, head of the Kulanu party, officially announced on Wednesday that his party will not run together on a joint list with Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.

"I am hearing spins and I want to say simply, I am not ruling out anyone, but Kulanu will not join anyone during these elections,” Kahlon said, as he visited the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem with other members of his party.

“We are running alone all the way to the finish line,” he stressed.

Speculation about Yesh Atid and Kulanu running together has been churning for weeks, although Kahlon has consistently denied a unification, in spite of meeting several times with Lapid. 

Kahlon and Lapid reportedly met one more time on Tuesday night and agreed that they would run separately, despite numerous polls that showed that the two parties could win more seats if they run together than if they run separately.

Lapid made similar remarks in an interview on Channel 2 News nearly a month ago, in which he said, "Yesh Atid is running alone in this election, because this party is not just a platform of seats, but a group that believes in something and wants to work."

Both parties are placing a heavy emphasis on social issues in their campaign, but Kahlon has been critical of Lapid, saying last week that Lapid, as well as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett were all to blame for the high cost of living in Israel.

He later also said that Lapid squandered an opportunity to bring about real change, having won 20 seats in the last election.