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Kulanu to join Likud for early election

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The Likud and Kulanu parties have agreed to run on a joint list if a September election is approved by the Knesset today.

Despite overnight talks, there has been no breakthrough in coalition talks between Likud and other parties. Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman wrote on Facebook that he was not seeking to take revenge on Benjamin Netanyahu or to topple him, and that he does not conduct any haggling or extortion campaigns.

As a result of the deadlock, Kulanu agreed to join Likud. Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon said: “We decided that if the elections for the 22nd Knesset are held, the Kulanu party will run in a joint list with the Likud for the elections, and Kulanu will continue to be a social, national, rightist and state party and will preserve the values ​​for which it was founded.”

According to the agreement, Kahlon will receive the fifth slot on the Likud list, Economy Minister Eli Cohen the 15th, Construction Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton the 29th and faction chairman Roy Folkman will be number 35.

Kahlon’s announcement was made after the Likud secretariat approved the Prime Minister’s proposal for a merger. Three members of the secretariat objected to the proposal that also included continuing the term of office of the existing list and current chairman, and one abstained. MK Gideon Saar, who would drop to 6th on the Knesset list, was absent from the meeting.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “The unity between us has led us to victory over the media and the left. I am moved by the trust you have placed in me over the last few years and at this meeting. We are doing this together, no matter what will happen, and we will win together.”

The Secretariat also agreed to cancel the primaries for the Likud leadership, as well as the Likud’s Knesset list, ensuring that Netanyahu will lead the party if a new election is to be held.

Despite the agreement, Kahlon expressed his preference that Netanyahu will succeed in forming a government and that the elections will not take place: “As Finance Minister I can say with full confidence, many hundreds of millions of shekels will be wasted in vain. They are needed elsewhere”.

Political analysts interpreted the merger as a bid to ensure the Kulanu MK’s vote for an early election, if necessary. Without a merger, and guaranteed slots on the Likud list, Kulanu MK’s may have opposed an early election where they might fail to win enough votes to enter Parliament as a separate party.