The Likud is considering offering Brig. Gen. (res.) Ofer Winter, chairman of the Amcha Yisrael party, a joint surplus-vote agreement ahead of the upcoming Knesset election, Channel 14 reported Monday.

A senior Likud official told Channel 14 that Winter’s willingness to sign such an agreement — or his refusal to do so — could influence the way Likud treats his party during the election campaign.

The move comes amid efforts within the right-wing bloc to reduce the number of separate parties running in the election, due in part to concerns that votes could be lost to parties that fail to cross the electoral threshold.

Winter has recently declared that his party is part of the right-wing camp and that it will recommend Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister. However, he has set a condition for joining a government: passage of a military service law before the government is sworn in.

Under Israeli election law, a surplus-vote agreement allows two parties to be treated as a single list solely for the purpose of distributing surplus Knesset seats. The agreement only takes effect if both parties cross the electoral threshold, and each party may enter into such an agreement with only one other list.

Beyond its technical impact on the distribution of seats, signing such an agreement could also carry political significance by signaling whether Amcha Yisrael intends to coordinate more closely with Likud as part of the right-wing bloc, or continue running independently while maintaining some distance from the bloc’s leadership.

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