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Tzipi Livni and Yesh Atid both firm up Knesset lists

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With the 6 December deadline looming for parties to submit their final list of Knesset candidates, Tzipi Livni’s new Hatnuah party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid both revealed further details of their election slates.

Former-foreign minister Livni last week announced that she would head a new party called Hatnuah (The Movement). Although the list of candidates is yet to be finalised, there were significant developments in the party’s line-up over the weekend. After several days of lobbying, Meir Sheetrit agreed to join Hatnuah from Kadima, making him the seventh current Kadima MK to make such a move. This is significant, as a bloc of seven current MKs is usually recognised as an official Knesset faction, entitling Hatnuah to around £1.5million in public funding.

Meanwhile, former Labour Party chairman Amram Mitzna announced that he is joining the Hatnuah list, saying “The upcoming election will be either Bibi or Tzipi Livni… I have made my choice.” Two key members of the national-religious camp are also expected to join Hatnuah. Former OC Human Resources Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Elazar Stern and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s former spokesman, Yoaz Hendel look set to run on the Hatnuah list, helping position the party as the choice of the centre.

Yesterday, party leader Yair Lapid presented the full list of Yesh Atid candidates for the upcoming election. Representing a wide cross-section of Israeli society, half of the top twenty candidates are women, including Herzliya mayor Yael German. The list also boasts two-Ethiopian Israelis, a Druze candidate and three religious candidates including Rabbi Shai Pinto who occupies the number two slot on the list. Unveiling the campaign slogan, “We’ve come to change,” Lapid said that the Yesh Atid candidates are “from different backgrounds, disciplines and areas of the country” and will tackle “cynicism, people who see there is no reason to try to change, people who give [up], and just say the state has fallen apart.”