'Bennett II': Ben-Gvir refuses to sign vote surplus share agreement with Winter's People of Israel

National Security Minister and Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir refused to sign a vote-surplus-sharing agreement with People of Israel party leader Ofer Winter on Tuesday.

"Winter is [former prime minister and B'Yachad party leader Naftali] Bennett II; therefore, Otzma Yehudit will not sign a surplus agreement with him," Ben-Gvir wrote on X/Twitter.

Ben-Gvir was suggesting that a vote for Winter would be like a vote for Bennett.

Winter issued a response to Ben-Gvir via People of Israel. "Itamar, grow up. People are tired of the gimmicks, the style, and this way of doing things," he said.

"Just a moment ago, you said these elections were fateful, and now you are declaring that you will throw votes in the trash," Winter continued.

"The false campaign you are trying to imitate against a right-wing man who has paid prices that few have paid in Israel is not appreciated, is not catching on, and will not help the right-wing camp," he added.

"Instead of defeating enemies, you are busy with an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate brothers. No wonder so many right-wing people are repulsed by this approach. Only a strong People of Israel will bring about a broad national government," Winter concluded.

People of Israel may not pass electoral threshold, latest Walla Knesset mandate poll finds

Otzma Yehudit is forecast to receive eight Knesset mandates while People of Israel falls below the 3.25% electoral threshold, receiving 2.8% of the vote, a Tuesday Walla poll found.

Several aligned political parties have signed such vote-surplus-sharing agreements.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party announced on October 6 that it had signed a surplus-vote sharing agreement with the Religious Zionist Party (RZP), led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, ahead of the October 27 elections.

The two major haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), announced on Sunday that they signed a surplus vote-sharing agreement ahead of the October 27 elections and pledged continued cooperation in the next Knesset.

Hadash-Ta’al and Ra’am signed a surplus vote-sharing agreement on September 11, saying the deal is intended to strengthen their position in the allocation of surplus mandates and reduce the risk of losing votes.

Meanwhile, the four major parties in the opposition bloc signed surplus vote-sharing agreements on September 10. Two agreements were signed: one between Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar and Yair Golan’s The Democrats, and the other between Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad and Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu.

As part of 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 to which the parties belong.

The deal is only relevant if both parties pass the electoral threshold. All four parties in the opposition bloc have been polling far over the required threshold.

Keshet Neev, Yoav Etiel, and Shir Perets contributed to this report.