Yaron Zelekha
Yaron ZelekhaArutz Sheva

Sources in Meretz made clear on Sunday that the party does not intend to withdraw from the race for the Knesset "at any cost", despite the danger that it will not pass the electoral threshold, in light of several polls published in recent days.

Meanwhile, Channel 13 News reported of internal pressure within Prof. Yaron Zelekha’s “New Economic Party” to withdraw from the race due to the party's position in the polls.

Number 3 on the party slate, Prof. Yoram Yovel, announced in a Facebook post that if the party does not pass the electoral threshold in the polls by the 16th of the month, he will remove his name from the list of candidates so as not to harm the chances of replacing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Sources in Zelekha’s party told Channel 13 News that a large part of their voters belong to the right-wing bloc, so that even if they do not pass the electoral threshold, it will result in more right-wing votes being lost, and the camp seeking to remove Netanyahu from power will not be harmed.

The most recent Channel 13 News poll found that Meretz barely passes the electoral threshold and wins four seats, while Zelekha’s party wins 2.1% of the vote, far from the minimum required to enter the Knesset.