The Labor party is considering merging with Blue and White ahead of the 2020 elections, called last week, party insiders told Israel Hayom over the weekend.
The move is reportedly driven by Labor's concern that come the March 2 vote it will fail to pass the 3.25% electoral threshold, which translates into four Knesset seats.
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The party, which ahead of the September elections merged with the Gesher party, won six Knesset seats and recent polls suggest it could retain its power.
According to Labor officials, the party would like to retain its partnership with Gesher, founded by former Yisrael Beytenu MK Orly Levy-Abekasis. It plans to launch a joint campaign with Gesher and explore merging with Blue and White if later polls show the union drops under the electoral threshold.
"We are preparing for an independent [Knesset] bid and we will explore our options at a later date," MK Itzik Shmuli said Saturday. "The only parameter by which we will promote any future mergers is if we see that it increases the power of the entire bloc, and with it the chance of winning the elections."
Labor MK Merav Michaeli said, "The Labor-Gesher union won the block votes and we intend to continue with it in the upcoming elections. Increasing the [power of the] Labor party and the bloc to replace [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is our top goal, and all options will be explored accordingly."
Labor Leader Amir Peretz and Levy-Abekasis both reiterated last week that they will not partner with Netanyahu to form a government.
It remains unclear, however, whether Blue and White is even open to a merger of this kind.
