Likud and Religious Zionism Sign Surplus Vote Agreement Ahead of Election

The Likud party and the Religious Zionism party have signed a surplus vote agreement ahead of the upcoming 26th Knesset elections. This agreement allows the two parties to jointly compete for surplus votes after the initial distribution of mandates, potentially helping one of the parties secure an additional seat in the final results.

The deal was finalized hours before the candidate lists were due to be submitted, concluding weeks of efforts within the right-wing bloc to minimize vote wastage. The Religious Zionism party is running on a joint list with Moshe Feiglin's Zehut party, following agreements reached shortly before the deadline.

Earlier reports indicated that Likud had considered offering a similar surplus vote agreement to the "Am Yisrael" party, led by Brigadier General (Res.) Ofer Winter. A senior Likud official suggested that Winter's response to that potential offer could have influenced the ruling party's campaign strategy against him. The agreement with Religious Zionism effectively removes this possibility.

This move comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exerted pressure on parties to the right of Likud to consolidate and reduce the number of separate lists. Netanyahu had previously attempted to broker a merger between Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, but Ben-Gvir insisted on running independently.

This is not the first time Likud and Religious Zionism have entered into such an agreement; they also signed a surplus vote deal before the 2021 elections, during Netanyahu's efforts to ensure right-wing parties passed the electoral threshold.