Full coverage· Politics· Updated 21 Oct, 16:50

Blue and White Party Withdraws from Election Ballot

The Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz has officially withdrawn its candidacy for the 26th Knesset on Wednesday, ending its participation in the upcoming national election.

3 newsrooms · 2 languages · since 21 Oct, 15:19

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Blue and White Party Withdraws from Election Ballot — Illustration by baba

What happened

01The Blue and White party led by Benny Gantz officially withdrew from the 26th Knesset elections on Wednesday.
02All candidates on the Blue and White party list signed official documents to remove their candidacies.
03The Central Elections Committee instructed polling station secretaries to remove the party's ballots from voting booths.
04Votes already submitted by IDF soldiers and Israeli diplomats abroad for Blue and White will be declared invalid, according to Cursorinfo.
05Party chairman Benny Gantz met with Central Elections Committee Chairman Judge Noam Solberg prior to the withdrawal process.
06Cursorinfo reported that the party was lagging behind the electoral threshold and the move will affect only a few thousand votes.

All candidates on the party list signed documents to remove their candidacies, leading the Central Elections Committee to instruct polling station secretaries to remove Blue and White ballots from voting booths and mark the party as withdrawn on election posters.

Votes already cast for the party by IDF soldiers, who began voting on Tuesday, and by Israeli diplomats abroad will be declared invalid, according to Cursorinfo. The party was lagging behind the electoral threshold, and its withdrawal is expected to affect only a few thousand votes without significantly altering Knesset seat distribution.

Before the official announcement on Wednesday, Benny Gantz met with Central Elections Committee Chairman Judge Noam Solberg to thank him for his work in ensuring election integrity.

Summarized by baba from the reports of 3 newsrooms. Updated 00:48

Latest report: Kipa. Read Kipa’s original