Members of Arab party Ra’am convene to choose electoral slate

Traditionalist Arab party Ra’am holds its first internal election since chairman MK Mansour Abbas announced last year that the party would become “completely civil” and cut ties with its religious governing body, the Islamic Shura Council.

Roughly 1,050 party members are convening in the central Arab city of Taibe today to select the first five candidates on Ra’am’s slate for the October 27 election, the party says in a statement.

Places 6 through 10 on the party slate will then be selected by the party’s executive council, the statement says.

Abbas and former Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz have also confirmed holding talks on a possible joint run in the election, with the proposal on the table reportedly giving Segalovitz the second place in a technical bloc he would form with Ra’am.

Today’s gathering is Ra’am’s 28th general convention, and marks 30 years since the party’s establishment, the party says, adding that “the broad participation in the convention… comes after Ra’am has strengthened its institutions and identity and expanded its ranks and public presence.”

“The conference represents a political and organizational pivot point, amid the harsh conditions that have affected our community and people, and the unprecedented, racist policies and practices of the Netanyahu-Ben Gvir-Smotrich government,” the party says.

It reiterates its “efforts to topple this government and replace it with a new ‘change government’ that will include Ra’am as a partner, in order to advance salient issues for the Arab community.”

Ra’am was a member of the 2021-2022 so-called “change government,” which comprised a motley crew of factions opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Several leaders of the Zionist opposition, including some who served in senior positions in that government, have since said they would not form a government with an Arab party.