Kahlon: If public don't want me as finance minister, I won't come in back door

Kulanu chair says his party’s policy proposals require ‘the trust of the public,’ rules out merger with others or return to Likud

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon said on Wednesday that if his Kulanu party is not given a mandate by the public in April’s elections to continue in the government, he will not seek to retain his senior ministerial portfolio by merging with another party or returning to the Likud party.

“If the public decides they don’t want us, we will not come in the back door. If it decides it doesn’t want me as finance minister, I won’t try to get in by going with Bibi [Netanyahu] or anyone else,” Kahlon said at a press conference at the Kulanu headquarters in Tel Aviv.

“The finance minister needs the trust of the public; our plans need the trust of the public,” he added, referring to an extensive reform to preschool education that Kulanu presented at the press conference.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayahu is reportedly considering possible mergers with other parties on the right in order to stave off the threat of a center-left bloc emerging ahead of the national ballot. Support for Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience party has soared since its launch and its merger deal with Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem earlier this month, and polls predict it could overtake Likud if it agrees to a further merger deal with Yesh Atid,

Additionally, Netanyahu is worried that a number of smaller right-wing parties could fail to pass the 3.25 percent electoral threshold and put a right-wing coalition in peril. Recent surveys place the center-right Kulanu on the border of the threshold, receiving five-six Knesset seats if elections were to be held today.

Kahlon nonetheless reiterated on Wednesday that he would not merge with any party, even for the promise of continued control of the treasury.

“The finance minister does not come in the back door, he needs to come in the front door,” Kahlon said in a possible dig at the reported efforts by the prime minister to entice him back to the Likud fold, his former political home. “I say now unequivocally, Kulanu will not merge with anyone else before the elections.”

First elected to the Knesset on the Likud ticket in 2003, Kahlon surprised the political establishment when he left the party after a decade to form Kulanu ahead of the 2015 elections.

Kahlon’s comments come a day after he said he would support Netanyahu’s bid to form a new government after the elections, asserting that the premier and Gantz, his only apparently viable competitor, are “not in the same league.”

Asked if he would recommend to President Reuven Rivlin that Gantz be tasked with putting together the next government after elections, the finance minister said he did not believe the former IDF chief would receive enough votes to even be considered for the role.

Speaking at a conference organized by the right-wing Besheva newspaper on Tuesday, Kahlon, however, clarified that he would back Netanyahu “if he has a majority,” meaning a bloc of parties with over 60 seats.

“And if he doesn’t have a majority, we’ll give him a majority,” he added, suggesting that Kulanu would be a natural coalition partner for Likud.

“We worked well together, I don’t see why we shouldn’t continue working together,” he said. “Our bloc is very strong.”