Herzog-Livni deal revealed: This is how the united party will look
Party's Knesset list to include spots reserved for Livni's people, as well as one saved for Mofaz should he decide to join; Labor Conference to meet to vote on union, set date for primaries.
Last week, Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni and Labor chief Isaac Herzog announced that they would run on a joint list in the 2015 election and rotate the premiership if they win.
It has now been revealed exactly which seats would be reserved for Livni's people. The agreement between the parties stipulated that besides the second spot, reserved for Livni, she was to select the candidates for the eighth, 16th, 21st, 24th, and 25th spots. While the eighth and 16th spots are considered attainable, the other three are a stretch – but according to the polls, there is a chance that those selected for these seats could serve as members in the next Knesset.
The 11th spot has been reserved for Shaul Mofaz, the chairman of Kadima, should he decide to join the list.
This is how Herzog and Livni's list is going to look:
- Isaac Herzog
- Tzipi Livni
- 1st place Labor primaries
- National List
- National List (Woman)
- National List
- Hilik Bar (Secretary General Labor)
- Reserved for Hatnua (Likely Amir Peretz)
- National List (Woman)
- National List
- Reserved for Shaul Mofaz (Not final)
- National List
- National List
- National List (Woman)
- Districts - kibbutzim/Moshavim
- Reserved for Hatnua
- Ensuring Representation for Arabs/Druze
- Districts - Kibbutzim/Moshavim
- National List (Woman)
- National List
- Reserved for Hatnua
- National List (Woman)
- Distincts – Neighborhoods
- Reserved for Hatnua
- Reserved for Hatnua
- Ensuring Representation – Arabs/Druze
- National List (Woman)
- Ensuring Representation – Olim
- Districts – Haifa and North
- Districts – South and Negev
The Labor Conference, scheduled to meet Sunday evening at the Tel Aviv Conference Center, was to vote on the union between Hatnua and Labor, as well as seeking to approve a date and set of rules for primaries. Labor chairman Isaac Herzog was scheduled to speak at 7pm. His predecessor as head of the party, MK Shelly Yachimovich, and party Secretary General MK Hilik Bar, were also scheduled to speak.
At the joint press conference last week when Livni and Herzog announced their decision to run together, Herzog announced that he had agreed to rotate the party leadership with Livni.
"Herzog will be a great prime minister," Livni said.
Afterwards, the party's Knesset members released a statement of support for the move. "I am proud of my faction members for the support of the party chairman and his decisions. Today we laid the groundwork for the revolution in 2015," said Labor MK Eitan Cabel.
Interior Minister Gilad Erdan spoke Sunday and dismissed the possibility of a Herzog-Livni victory. "In this imaginary scenario in which Buji and Tzipi are prime ministers, we certainly will not sit in their government, one that will divide Jerusalem and make a unilateral withdrawal. This isn't a personal rejection, it's a rejection of a basic path," he said.
He said that the next government will hold diplomatic talks, even if Naftali Bennett and Bayit Yehudi hold senior positions. "There will be diplomatic negotiations, even with Bennett as a central partner in the next government."
