Blue and White withdraws: ballots marked X across Israel

One week before election day, Blue and White has completed the formal process of withdrawing from the race for the 26th Knesset. Every candidate on Benny Gantz's list signed resignation papers Wednesday, and the Central Elections Committee has confirmed the party will not compete.

According to the committee's official announcement, following the resignations of all candidates on the "Blue and White headed by Benny Gantz" list, the party will not run in the election. The letters assigned to the party's ballot slip were "Ken."

Under the committee's directive, polling station officials have been instructed to ensure Blue and White ballot slips are neither distributed nor placed in the ballot trays. The party's slip will be marked with an X on posters and notices displaying the ballot options.

The instructions apply to military polling stations as well, with appropriate modifications. The committee clarified that if Blue and White ballots are found during vote counting, whether printed or handwritten, they will be considered invalid. This applies to votes already cast at Israeli missions abroad and in IDF polling stations.

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz met this morning with Elections Committee chairman Justice Yitzhak Solberg and thanked him for his work safeguarding election integrity. After the process was completed, all polling station secretaries received instructions to remove Blue and White ballot slips.

Gantz announced his withdrawal from the Knesset race in a formal statement. "This evening, with a heavy heart and out of responsibility, I have decided to remove my candidacy for the 26th Knesset," Gantz said. "To my regret, at this time I have not succeeded in convincing enough of the people of our path, and the responsibility is mine."

Blue and White election sign (Photo: Sharon Leibel/Flash90)

The decision comes against the backdrop of polls indicating Blue and White was not expected to cross the electoral threshold. Yashar. party chairman Gadi Eisenkot responded to the decision: "I thank my friend, Major General (res.) Benny Gantz, for his correct and responsible decision to withdraw from competing in the most fateful elections since the founding of the state."

The central question now is where the mandates Blue and White was projected to receive in polls will flow. In an interview, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed Gantz's withdrawal: "Benny Gantz is a good man, he is a mentsch. He is a person who throughout all the years has always placed the good of Israel above his personal good."

The withdrawal also affects military voting arrangements. Voting for the 26th Knesset has begun at military polling stations in IDF bases and outposts across all sectors, with more than 850 polling stations deployed from the Hermon to Eilat. At these stations too, Blue and White slips will be marked with an X.