Three left-wing parties are embroiled in a controversy over a letter their names
share – tzadi.
The Social Justice Party slammed Meretz on Tuesday for
reneging on an agreement to allow the former to use tzadi, in order to give the
letter to The Tzipi Livni Party.
The letter tzadi is at the beginning of
the name Tzipi and the word tzedek, Hebrew for “justice.”
The January 22
election will be conducted as in the past, via slips of paper dropped into
ballot boxes, each with a letter or combination of letters representing one of
the 34 parties registered.
Parties that have gotten into the Knesset
before have the rights to the letters they used in the past. Some of the older
parties, such as Labor, the Likud and Meretz, have three letters on their voting
slip, and have to give permission to new parties that want to use any of those
letters.
Meretz and the Social Justice Party signed an agreement in
November to share the letter tzadi.
However, after The Tzipi Livni Party
was formed earlier this month, it signed an agreement with Meretz to share
“spare votes” that do not make up a full Knesset seat.
On Monday, Meretz
notified Social Justice that it takes back its agreement and gives the letter
tzadi to Livni.
Social Justice plans to submit an appeal to the Central
Elections Committee. The party pointed out that, according to law, letters go to
whichever party requested them first, and that they registered with the
committee last Wednesday, the day before The Tzipi Livni Party did
so.
“Meretz and Tzipi Livni’s actions show that they are harming social
justice,” party leader Gad Haran said. “It cannot be that Meretz allowed us to
use the letter, the Central Elections Committee will allow it to change its mind
later.”
According to Haran, Meretz and The Tzipi Livni Party are “worthy
of condemnation” and demonstrating unclean politics.
“The letter tzadi
was promised to The Tzipi Livni Party in the ‘surplus votes’ agreement,” a
Meretz spokeswoman said when asked about the matter.
“Meretz hopes Livni
will keep her promises and not take our tzadi to [Prime Minister Binyamin]
Netanyahu’s government.”