Arab-Israeli parties working until deadline to unite in same manner they did in 2015

Joint (Arab) List MK Msaud Gnaim tells The Times of Israel that negotiations are still ongoing in efforts to keep the united slate of four Arab-Israeli parties together, with just an hour left until the deadline to present candidate lists.

“We are trying until the last moment,” he says, admitting that gaps still remain, but saying he believed it was “still possible.”

In the last elections in 2015, the four parties ran together on the Joint (Arab) List, winning 13 seats and becoming one of the largest factions in the opposition.

The Joint List was composed of the Arab Movement for Renewal, Balad, the United Arab List and the mixed Arab and Jewish Hadash party.

As of 9 p.m, Gnaim said that the Arab Movement for Renewal and Hadash had agreed to run together and Balad and the United Arab List separately.

Veteran Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi, the head of Arab Movement for Renewal, is insisting his party would run alone.

Balad and the United Arab List announced an agreement in principle on Wednesday that they would run on the same slate. But officials in the two parties said they would not team up again with Hadash unless Tibi’s faction also joined.

— Raoul Wootliff