Netanyahu's Likud, Smotrich's RZP sign surplus-vote agreement ahead of elections

Likud signed a surplus vote agreement with Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party, while Otzma Yehudit accused Netanyahu’s party of sidelining Ben-Gvir.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party announced Tuesday that it had signed a surplus-vote-sharing agreement with the Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, ahead of the October 27 elections.

Under the agreement, the two parties pool their surplus votes after the initial allocation of Knesset seats following the elections. If the combined surplus is enough to secure an additional seat, one party can receive it, potentially strengthening the bloc they belong the.

The deal is only relevant if both parties pass the electoral threshold. The Religious Zionist Party has recently been polling just above the threshold, at around five seats.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, part of Netanyahu’s coalition bloc, said Likud refused to sign a surplus-vote agreement.

The party also accused Likud of seeking to form a unity government with Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar party and the leading candidate for prime minister in the opposition bloc in recent polling.

“Unfortunately, Likud refused to sign a surplus-vote agreement with Otzma Yehudit as part of its attempt to weaken Otzma Yehudit and keep Ben-Gvir out of the unity government that Likud is planning with Eisenkot,” the Otzma Yehudit party stated.

Opposition parties signed surplus vote-sharing agreements in September

In September, the four major parties in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Netanyahu signed surplus vote-sharing agreements, with the stated aim of increasing the number of seats won by the bloc and strengthening it.

Two agreements were announced: one between Eisenkot’s Yashar and Yair Golan’s The Democrats, and another between Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu.

Surplus vote agreements are commonly used in Israeli elections to ensure that votes left over after seats are allocated do not go to waste, increasing the chances of the parties securing an additional Knesset seat.

The surplus vote agreement system typically favors larger lists, which generally have a greater chance of winning an additional seat based on combined surplus votes.

For example, in the 2020 election, Likud and Yamina signed one such agreement and secured an additional seat, which went to Likud.