The Labor party will not run on a joint list with the far-left Meretz faction in this year’s election, Labor chief Avi Gabbay told Meretz chairwoman Tamar Zandberg Thursday.
Following the announcement Thursday morning that the Israel Resilience Party and the Yesh Atid faction would be running together on a joint list, officials from Labor and Meretz revealed that negotiations for a similar alliance were bearing fruit, though Gabbay remained skeptical of the viability of such a union.
Earlier on Thursday, Gabbay told Meretz leaders that internal polling showed a joint list of the two factions would fail to add to their overall electoral strength. Nevertheless, he vowed to conduct an additional survey before formally rejecting the proposed alliance.
Late Thursday afternoon, however, Gabbay informed Zandberg that the possibility of a joint run was off the table.
Parties have until 10:00 p.m. Thursday night to submit their candidate lists for the Knesset.
A Labor party spokesperson confirmed that Labor would not be running on a joint ticket with Meretz.
“After a careful study we conducted today, we found that an alliance between Labor and Meretz would give very little. The merging of the two movements would not increase our strength; it would in fact do the opposite, reducing the [left-wing] bloc.”
“An in-depth study conducted today by both Meretz and Labor found that Meretz will definitely cross the electoral threshold, and its representatives will make it into the next Knesset for sure. We will run separately and assist each other, with the goal of bringing about a change of government.”