BICOM

What happened: Ahead of the September 17 election, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau is reportedly close to sealing a deal with Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Zehut party, that would see the small far-right party drop out of the race and urge its supporters to vote for Likud.

• The contours of the deal include Government support for legislation to legalise marijuana as well as a cabinet post for Feiglin, if Netanyahu were to lead the next Government.
• Zehut is currently predicted in polls to win less than the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold required to win any seats in the next Knesset. The deal therefore advances Feiglin’s far-right and libertarian agenda while minimising the number of “wasted” votes for Netanyahu’s preferred right-wing bloc.

Context: Feiglin was a longtime backbencher and Netanyahu rival inside the Likud prior to forming his own Zehut party in 2015. An observant Jew, he espouses far-right views with regard to the Palestinian question but a libertarian outlook in terms of economic and social policies (including legalisation of marijuana).

• In the 9 April election Zehut won 118,000 votes – about 20,000 short of the 3.25 per cent electoral threshold.
• Netanyahu views these votes, which roughly translate to 2-3 Knesset seats, as crucial for his re-election bid. Current polls show Netanyahu and his right-wing bloc falling a few seats short of the 61 seats required to form a governing coalition.

Looking ahead: Both Likud and Zehut confirmed that a deal may be finalised in the coming days, with Feiglin promising to bring any agreement to a vote among his party members. Opposition politicians slammed the deal as potentially constituting election fraud and bribery, especially rumoured promises that Likud would cover Zehut’s financial debt. While a legal challenge is widely expected, the chances of it scuttling the deal are small.