The ouster of Hatnua Party Chair and chair of the opposition Tzipi Livni from the Zionist Camp in front of the cameras on Jan. 1 was for Chair of the Labor Party Avi Gabbay an act of leadership that was meant to rev up his faltering election campaign for prime minister. But according to responses in the field and various polls, the effect of the ouster shattered not only the Zionist Camp but also both Labor and Hatnua. This is bad news for the left at the beginning of the election cycle. Alliances and unions have not formed yet in the left-wing camp in order to create an alternative for the Likud’s rule headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and this option only grows more and more unlikely.
According to initial polls after the ouster, the Labor Party continues to collapse to only 7-8 mandates. The Hatnua Party headed by Livni teeters around the vote threshold.
