The right-wing Tzomet party agrees to pull out of the March 2 elections and back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.
The decision comes after the party’s leader, Moshe Garin, met today with Netanyahu and Likud Minister Eli Cohen.
According to Likud, they agree that in exchange for Tzomet withdrawing from the race and backing Likud, an educational institute will be established to memorialize former IDF chief of staff Rafael “Raful” Eitan, the founder of Tzomet.
Likud says the agreement is also meant to address the issue of “rural settlement.”
“This is another important step on the way to obtaining 61 seats and to preventing the wasting of more votes from the right-wing bloc,” Likud writes on Twitter.
The party, whose full name is “Tzomet — Settlement and Agriculture,” received 14,805 votes in September’s Knesset elections, 0.33 percent of the total votes cast.
After coming short of a majority in elections in April and September, Netanyahu has been calling on small right-wing factions to drop out of the race in a bid to sure up support for Likud.
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