Coalition Official Blames Candidate Ofer Winter for Right-Wing Vote Loss

A senior coalition official has sharply criticized Ofer Winter, a candidate in the recent Knesset elections, attributing significant losses for the right-wing bloc to his independent run. The official stated that Winter's decision to compete alone cost the right-wing parties numerous Knesset seats, asserting that the right would have achieved a clear victory had Winter not insisted on running. While acknowledging the need to await final election results due to discrepancies in preliminary exit polls, the official maintained that Winter's candidacy was a major detriment.

The official dismissed Winter's claims of facing a campaign against him, calling them "ridiculous." According to the official, Winter had "no chance" of crossing the electoral threshold from the outset, and the alleged campaign actually helped minimize the number of wasted votes. The official argued that efforts to warn voters against supporting parties unlikely to pass the threshold actually reduced the number of votes that would not translate into mandates.

The criticism comes in the wake of exit poll results from Channel 14, which projected the right-wing bloc securing 60 mandates, the left-wing bloc 43, and Arab parties 17. The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, was projected as the largest party with 30 mandates. This projection represented a decrease of two mandates for the right-wing bloc compared to a previous poll by Shlomo Filber. The Central Elections Committee has begun counting votes, and the final distribution of mandates for the 26th Knesset will only be known after the count is complete.