The religious Zionist parties Habayit Hayehudi and National Union are close to an agreement on a joint list for the April 9 election, the parties announced Thursday.
A spokesperson for Habayit Hayehudi said that "the teams finished up the negotiations [Wednesday] night."
The spokesperson said that the negotiators had hammered out a proposal that would be presented to Habayit Hayehudi leader Rafi Peretz and National Union head MK Bezalel Smotrich for their approval.
Smotrich responded on Twitter to the reports that the parties had worked out a merger agreement, saying "There is one test of the fairness of a proposal – would the other side be willing to sign it if the terms were reversed?"
Smotrich said he had not been negotiating with Peretz directly and that Peretz's staff had refused to let the two party chairman sit down face-to-face.
The smaller right-wing parties have realized that if they fail to merge, they might have difficulty making it over the minimum electoral threshold and into the next Knesset, which would be a blow to the Right as a whole in the general election.
According to the latest Israel Hayom-i24NEWS poll, Habayit Hayehudi, National Union, former Shas leader Eli Yishai's Yachad Party, and Otzma Yehudit – headed by far-right activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel – will not make it past the minimum electoral threshold of 3.25%, or four seats, if they fail to join forces and run together.
The poll also predicted that neither Kulanu nor Yisrael Beytenu would pass the minimum electoral threshold.
The poll projected 32 seats for the Likud, while former IDF chief Benny Gantz's Israel Resilience Party lost ground. The poll predicted 19 seats for Israel Resilience, a loss of one seat since last week's poll. However, Labor – which held party primaries on Monday – gained and was projected to win eight seats.
Yesh Atid was predicted to win 12 seats.
Nine seats were projected for the Joint Arab List, and MK Ahmad Tibi's Ta'al party, which has split from the Joint Arab List, was predicted to win five.
