Where did the letters on the ballots come from: The story behind Machal and Emet

The article explains the origin of the letters on the voting slips for the 26th Knesset elections, focusing on the combinations Machal of Likud and Emet of the Democrats. Until last July, the law allowed a list to be marked with only one or two letters, and only ahead of the current elections was the marking expanded to three letters. The letters Machal were formed from the union of the Herut movement, the Liberal Party, and the State List, while Emet was formed from the union of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda, and Mapam.

The article explains the origin of the letters on the voting slips for the 26th Knesset elections, focusing on the two most well-known combinations: Machal of Likud and Emet of the Democrats. Until last July, the law allowed a list to be marked with only one or two letters, and only ahead of the current elections was the marking expanded to three letters. The letters Machal were formed from the union of the Herut movement (Het), the Liberal Party (Lamed), and the State List (Mem), which joined Likud upon its establishment in 1973. The letters Emet were formed from the union of Mapai (Aleph), Ahdut HaAvoda–Poalei Zion (Tav), and Mapam (Mem), which comprised the Alignment in 1969. The article also notes a dispute over the letter Bet between Otzma Yehudit led by Itamar Ben Gvir and Naftali Bennett's party, which was decided by the Central Elections Committee in favor of Otzma Yehudit.