Number 10 slot for smaller party on joint list unlikely to be renewed after talks with Labor suspended.
By HAVIV RETTIG GURmelchior 224.88 aj(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The political future of the dovish religious-Zionist Meimad party is uncertain since talks with the Labor Party were suspended this week, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
With polls showing Labor's Knesset list collapsing to between nine and 13 seats in the coming elections, the Labor-Meimad agreement in place since 1999 - which reserved the No. 10 slot for the smaller party on a joint list - is unlikely to be renewed.
While sources in the party insisted Meimad was an attractive choice for many voters, perhaps earning up to three Knesset seats for itself, its chairman, MK Michael Melchior, told the Post earlier this week that the party would not likely run on its own.
Meanwhile, there was early talk this week of a shared list between Kadima and Meimad. While Melchior last weekend denied reports that formal talks were being held, Kadima MK Yohanan Plessner told the Post on Thursday that Meimad was an appealing partner for a joint list.
"One of the planks of Kadima's platform is that Israel is not only a democratic state, but also a Jewish one," he said. "Meimad's position is precisely in keeping with Kadima's in this regard, so it makes sense to look into such an agreement."
Even so, he added, formalizing such ties would involve a "complicated process" within Kadima institutions, one that has not yet begun despite the speculation.
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