The Central Elections Committee, headed by Justice Noam Solberg, approved on Sunday the 38 party lists submitted for the upcoming elections and their assigned ballot letters. The approval comes 19 days after the final deadline for list submissions, setting the ballot picture for election day exactly one month from now, subject to legal proceedings concerning some of the lists.
Among the major parties, "Resh-Kuf" was assigned to the Yachad list headed by Naftali Bennett, "Dalet-Resh-Kaf" to Yashar! with Gadi Eisenkot, "Lamed" to Yisrael Beiteinu, "Beit" to Otzma Yehudit, "Alef-Mem-Tav" to the Democrats, "Kaf-Nun" to Blue and White, and "Tet" to Religious Zionism and Zehut.
Unchanged: Likud retains "Machal," the Union of Sephardic Torah Guardians, the movement of Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef zt"l, keeps "Shas," and United Torah Judaism remains with the letter "Gimel" as usual.
The newer chareidi parties received less familiar letter combinations, including "Zayin-Kaf" for Motti Leitner's "The Chareidi Public," "Nun-Resh" for the "Black Color – Shield of the Torah World" list, and "Resh-Tzadi" for the "HaKahal" party.
Significant decisions were also recorded in the Arab sector: Ra'am and the Joint List were approved conditionally, pending a High Court ruling. In addition, the committee determined that the Joint List is barred from participating in the elections and disqualified two candidates from it: Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh and MK Ofer Cassif.
Among the approved lists are also newer and smaller parties, including "Amcha Yisrael" headed by Ofer Winter with the letter "Kaf," "Noam L'Yisrael" headed by Avi Maoz with "Nun-Yud," and "Yisrael Techilah" headed by Sharon Haskel with "Yud."
One unusual decision concerns the "Gan Eden" list. The list initially requested the letter combination "Yud-Hei," but the committee did not approve the choice due to concern for offending public sensibilities, and approved the second choice – the letter "Hei."
In total, 38 lists will compete under different letters. The official approval marks the transition to the next stage of the election campaign, as the parties head out to campaign and the ballot slips that voters will encounter at polling stations now take their final form.
