All 4 Arab parties to run together in September elections
Balad leader MK Mtanes Shehadeh said he asked his counterparts in the other parties to postpone the press conference, "but we were refused."
By GIL HOFFMAN, EZRA TAYLORThe heads of Hadash, Ta'al and Ra'am parties agree to create a joint Arab List, July 27, 2019 (photo credit: UNITED ARAB LIST)
The Balad party's central committee decided on Sunday to run together with three other Arab parties in the September 17 election.Hadash, Ta'al and the United Arab List reached an agreement on Saturday to run together and announced it at a press conference on Saturday at the Ramada Hotel in Nazareth. Balad leader MK Mtanes Shehadeh said he asked his counterparts in the other parties to postpone the press conference, "but we were refused."In the April election Hadash and Ta’al ran together and received six seats. United Arab List and Balad ran together and received four mandates. In 2015 the four parties ran together as the Joint List and won 13.In the April 9 election, Hadash and Ta’al ran together, receiving six seats. United Arab List and Balad also ran together, receiving four seats. In 2015, the four parties ran together as the Joint List and won 13.Hadash-Ta’al leader Ayman Odeh, who will head the list, vowed to use the full political weight of the three parties to topple Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Only if we are united can we overthrow the right-wing government,” Odeh said at the press conference. “Only if we are united can we prevent racism, annexation and the destruction of democracy.”Odeh had considered seeking a merger for Hadash and Ta’al with Meretz instead of reuniting the Joint List. Meretz’s decision last week to run together with former prime minister Ehud Barak in the Democratic Union Party ended that option.“The fight against the right-wing, settler, racist, corrupt government requires a strong and large Joint List in the Knesset,” Hadash-Ta’al MK Youssef Jabareen said. “Today we began our journey toward the success of our struggle in the upcoming election.”
