The Joint List coalition of Arab majority parties has officially launched its run for the upcoming March 23 election without a United Arab List [Ra’am], the parties announced Thursday morning after talks between the four constituent parties collapsed last week.
The breakdown between the long-term allies came from Ra’am’s ties to the ruling Likud party and its chairman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as disagreements over religious issues and conservatism among Arab society.
Leaving the list groups together Hadash, Ta’al and Balad sign an agreement to run as one bloc in the upcoming elections
(Photo: Joint list)
“The other elements of the joint list have refused to pledge not to vote on laws that run counter to the beliefs of our conservation society, including support for homosexuality,” Ra’am said in the message.
“We tried to overcome these obstacles because of unity and we announced that we have agreed to consider Netanyahu as a red line so that the alliance would be an independent and influential force. However, it was not The elements of the other parties were willing to talk about alternatives and political influence, and he urged them to refuse not to vote on laws that are against the beliefs of our society, ”the party said.
The Head of the StatNet Research Institute, Yousef Makladeh, assessed that Netanyahu’s success in accepting a large slice of Arab population was successful with his recent efforts to reconcile with Israel’s Arab population.
According to Makladeh, the turnout among Arabs is expected to fall from 65% to 56% – meaning that around 100,000 Arab voters will not cast their ballot in the upcoming elections.
Makladeh said he believes Netanyahu, who in the last election won about a third of a seat in Knesset from the Arab public, would have won 2.7 seats from Arab voters if Ra’am had not broken away from the Commonwealth. list.
Ra’am leader MK Mansour Abbas, left, has called for co-operation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photos: Reuters, Elad Gershgoren)
“This is a result of Likud’s work which seeks to speak to the hearts of the people – and succeeds in doing so.”
Makladeh has now said that Ra’am has broken away from the coalition list, that half of Netanyahu’s power in the Arab region may shift to Abbas’s party, although it is uncertain whether Ra’am will pass the election threshold.
“Right now, there are all sorts of situations,” Makladeh said. “In some, Ra’am will get three seats and in some five seats. If deputy mayor Sakhnin Mazen Ghanem joins the party, and also mayor Nasareth Ali Salam, who named as- if he supports the party, Ra’am is likely to get around five seats. “