The bloc that "worked it out" and Ben Gvir's dilemma: the surplus-vote agreements — and how they will affect the elections

A ynet guide to the surplus-vote agreements ahead of the Knesset election on 27 October. In the change bloc, agreements were signed between Bennett and Liberman, Eisenkot with the Democrats and Yair Golan, the Joint List with Ra'am, Likud with Religious Zionism, and Shas with United Torah Judaism. The open question: will Ben Gvir sign with Vinter.

Dan Oren's article in ynet is a detailed guide to the surplus-vote agreements, against the backdrop of the Knesset election to be held in 16 days, on 27 October. According to the article, parties may sign agreements until 11 days before the polls open, that is, until 16 October, subject to the approval of the Central Elections Committee. The article explains the mechanics: after the valid votes are counted, the 120 seats are divided among the lists that passed the electoral threshold, which stands at 3.25%. In the 2022 election the minimum number of votes stood at 154,855, and the measure was 36,227 votes per seat. The surplus-vote agreements, by force of the Bader-Ofer law of 1973, allow two parties to calculate their votes as if they had run on a single list, and thereby prevent the loss of "broken" votes. According to the article, in the change bloc the agreements were closed: Bennett with Liberman, Eisenkot with the Democrats and Yair Golan, the Joint List with Ra'am, Likud with Religious Zionism, and Shas with United Torah Judaism. Eisenkot said that he "acted in a variety of ways for the optimal organisation of the change camp and the hope". Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit remained with the possibility of signing with Ofer Vinter's "Amcha Yisrael" or staying alone, against the backdrop of Likud's campaign against Vinter.