Left-wing unity campaign returns Shaffir, Meretz keep jostling over list

The same people who pushed for the formation of Blue and White ahead of the April election began an effort on Sunday to get Labor-Gesher and the Democratic Union to merge ahead of the Wednesday, January 15 deadline for lists to be submitted to the Central Elections Committee.The campaign is being led behind the scenes by advertising executives Ilan Shiloah and Udi Pridan, who were behind former prime minister Ehud Barak’s return to politics ahead of the September race and worked for Moshe Kahlon’s Kulanu in the 2015 election. Pridan had to apologize for calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the devil” in 2015.The slogan for the campaign will be “Without uniting, the vote is lost,” which rhymes in Hebrew.“For the first time in the history of the state, there is true danger of erasing the sane bloc,” the campaign posters say. “Without uniting, eight mandates will go to the trash and with them, the state. Without uniting, Netanyahu will be prime minister. Without uniting, the future of our children will be lost.”The ads cite a poll indicating that 76% of Labor-Gesher and Meretz voters favor uniting the Left for the March 2 election. Blue and White leaders have also been pushing for the two parties left of Blue and White to merge.Meretz leader Nitzan Horowitz has repeatedly spoken in favor of a merger and has even expressed willingness to let Labor leader Amir Peretz head the list. But Peretz and Gesher leader Orly Levy-Abecassis oppose the merger.Efforts will continue this week to maintain the Democratic Union partnership of Meretz, MK Stav Shaffir’s Green Party and Barak’s allies.Shaffir sent Horowitz a letter with a new proposal on Saturday night. Shaffir, who was second on the list in the September election, called for an Arab representative to be placed second and all other candidates to move one place down on the list.Meretz did not respond to Shaffir’s letter. Sources in the party confirmed that Barak’s ally, former deputy IDF chief Yair Golan, would keep the third slot on the list, but they could not confirm reports that Shaffir would only be offered the sixth slot.“We will reach an agreement, but chances are it will only happen just ahead of the deadline,” a Meretz source said.