Coalition Official Blames Ofer Winter for Right-Wing Election Setback

A senior coalition official has sharply criticized Ofer Winter, a candidate in the recent Knesset elections, attributing the right-wing bloc's potential failure to secure a majority to Winter's insistence on running. Speaking to Srugim, the official stated that while final results are pending, preliminary exit polls indicate Winter's candidacy cost the right-wing parties significant votes.

"If Winter had not insisted on running, the right would have clearly won," the official asserted. The comments come after exit polls showed the current coalition parties falling short of the necessary majority to form a government. The official holds Winter's campaign partly responsible for this outcome, though acknowledges this is a political claim not definitively proven by the polls alone.

The official also vehemently dismissed Winter's claims of a campaign being waged against him. "Winter's claim about the campaign against him is laughable. From the first moment, he had no chance of passing the electoral threshold, and the campaign only reduced the number of wasted votes. Ofer erred in his navigation," the official said.

According to the official, the campaign against Winter's candidacy actually helped by reducing the number of votes that might have been cast for a list that would not pass the threshold. This counters the idea that the campaign itself harmed Winter's chances of entering the Knesset.