Bennett-Liberman, Eisenkot-Golan: Opposition parties sign surplus vote-sharing agreement

The four major parties in the opposition bloc seeking to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October elections signed surplus vote-sharing agreements on Thursday, with the stated aim of increasing the number of seats won by the bloc and strengthening it.

It was announced that 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.

Eisenkot’s Yashar party has led in recent polling with about 25 seats, surpassing Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party.

When announcing the agreement, Yashar stated that, in recent weeks, Eisenkot had been working in various ways “to optimally organize the camp for change and hope.”

“The camp’s consolidation around four parties has, to our satisfaction, created the ability for the parties to sign surplus-vote agreements with one another, drawing a lesson from previous election campaigns,” the party stated.

“We welcome the fact that in the upcoming elections, every ballot cast by Israelis seeking change and the replacement of the government responsible for the October 7 failure will go to one of the parties in the camp for change, thereby preventing the loss of votes,” it added.

Yashar voiced its support for agreement between B'Yachad and Yisrael Beytenu

Yashar also stated that it welcomed the surplus-vote agreement between B’Yachad and Yisrael Beytenu.

“We are determined to continue working in every possible way to achieve victory, fulfill the will of the people, and establish a Zionist, statesmanlike government that will replace the government of October 7,” the Yashar party added.

In Netanyahu’s coalition bloc, various parties are reportedly expected to sign surplus vote agreements as well.

Among the parties reportedly expected to do so are the two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties – Shas and United Torah Judaism – along with Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionist Party and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit.

The opposition bloc agreements were announced Thursday after Tuesday’s deadline for parties to submit their finalized Knesset slates, ruling out further mergers ahead of the elections.

The four major opposition parties ultimately chose to run separately rather than form further alliances.

Surplus vote agreements common in Israel

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.