Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc is making last-minute efforts to persuade Moti Leitner to withdraw his new chareidi party, Hatzibur HaHaredi, from the October 27 Knesset election.
Earlier pressure failed. On Sunday that Netanyahu personally reached out to Leitner during a broader push to get smaller right-wing parties out of the race before the vote. Likud representatives reportedly discussed offering Leitner a senior government post overseeing programs for the chareidi community, including education and workforce initiatives, if he dropped his independent campaign. Leitner rebuffed the approach and said his party would stay in. He contended that the established parties never reached a deal with him before their candidate lists closed, and that the community should have another option.
Leaders in the right-wing bloc have warned that parties like Leitner's could cost it the election. On Monday, Religious Zionism MK Limor Son Har-Melech cautioned that parties continuing to run could bring down the right-wing bloc and give Netanyahu grounds to form a government with Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot. Polling data published Monday by Kan News also indicated chareidi turnout may fall sharply from the last election.
