The Disbandment of the National Unity Party Does Not Contribute To Political Stability
The National Unity faction in the Knesset is disbanding and reverting into the two parties that composed its list of candidates in the last election. The splitting of joint lists does not contribute to political stability. It contributes to fragmentation within the political system and may be perceived as political cynicism.
Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90
The National Unity faction in the Knesset is disbanding and reverting into the two parties that composed its list of candidates in the last election - Blue and White led by Benny Gantz, and New Hope/the National Right under the leadership of Gideon Sa'ar.
The disbandment in the National Unity party is possible because parties elected to the Knesset as a joint list can, according to the law, disband and revert to their original parties at any time with the approval of the Knesset House Committee, and without sanctions.
Even factions that are not composed of several parties can split, but these cases are subject to certain conditions – in particular, members of a faction can only withdraw if they constitute at least one-third of its members. Knesset members who leave their faction and do not meet these conditions can be declared "defectors," and various restrictions may be imposed on them.
Due to the ease with which a joint list can disband, we have seen many similar cases in recent years. Prominent cases in recent years include the breakup of list uniting Blue and White, Labor-Gesher-Meretz, and Yamina after the 2020 elections, when some of the parties joined Netanyahu and Gantz's rotation government (Labor and Gesher), while others chose to remain in the opposition (Meretz).
The splitting of joint lists does not contribute to political stability. It contributes to fragmentation within the political system and may be perceived as political cynicism, especially when a faction splits as part of an attempt to gain political power in the government or as part of their electoral strategy for the next elections. Such a move may also be seen as a breach of the voters’ trust.
However, the disbandment of joint lists can also be justified if it reflects genuine substantive ideological disagreements between members that impede their ability to act together.
It is too early to determine how the disbandment of the National Unity party will be perceived – whether it reflects genuine disagreements about the future of the war in Gaza or is a political move aimed at "improving positions" in the government with the prospect of possible upcoming elections.
What is certain is that this practice does not add to the stability of Israeli politics. In the past, it was common for independent parties to unite under joint lists, run for elections within this framework and later merge into a single party. Prominent parties evolved from this framework, such as Likud, Labor and Meretz. In recent decades, this custom has given way to a phenomenon in which the overwhelming majority of joint lists last a single term at most (with the exception of the United Torah Judaism, which has run as a joint list since the 1992 elections). In the case at hand, while Blue and White and New Hope had initially declared their intention to unite, as we witnessed yesterday, the end was different.