The Democrats (Hebrew: הדמוקרטים, romanized: HaDemokratim) is a Zionist political party in Israel, formed by the merger of the centre-left Israeli Labor Party and the left-wing Meretz party in July 2024. It is led by Yair Golan,[6] who was the Labor Party leader prior to the merger and previously served as an MK for the Democratic Union, before joining Meretz.
History
Background
In the 2022 Israeli legislative election, the left-wing Meretz party won 3.16% of the vote failing, for the first time, to pass the electoral threshold (3.25%) required to qualify for seats in the Knesset, while the Labor Party just managed to pass, with 3.6% of the vote, winning only four seats, its worst ever performance in terms of popular vote. Labor leader Merav Michaeli was criticised for having refused to enter into an electoral pact with Meretz as the party's loss contributed to the anti-Netanyahu bloc's failure to win enough seats to stop Benjamin Netanyahu from forming a government.[7]
Negotiations began between Labor and Meretz following the 2022 election, with Meretz party secretary general Tomer Reznik and former Meretz MK Michal Rozin heading negotiations on behalf of their party and Labor MKs Gilad Kariv and Naama Lazimi in charge of the negotiations for Labor, with Yair Golan joining the negotiations later[8] (following his actions on 7 October when he rescued several people).[9]
Polling conducted throughout 2023 and in 2024, in the months prior to Labor's leadership election, suggested that in the next Israeli legislative election Labor may fail to pass the threshold and be shut out of the Knesset, while Meretz was projected to narrowly pass the threshold and win four seats, while polls taken in June prior to the merger agreement projected that if the parties were to run together, they would win more than ten seats.[10][11]
Golan launched his leadership campaign for Labor in early March 2024 on a platform of uniting Labor, Meretz and other organisations[12] and announced the formation of The Democrats on 18 March 2024, laying out his vision for an alternative to the Netanyahu government and calling for an early Knesset election.[13] Golan was elected Labor leader in a "landslide victory" on 28 May 2024.[14]
Announcement of the merger
On 30 June, the two parties jointly announced that they had agreed to a merger.[8]
According to a press release, the merger is "not a 'technical bloc', but rather a historical process that produces, finally, one large and united party, a liberal-democratic Zionist party that will be a political home for a large part of the Israeli population". Under the merger agreement, there will be one Meretz representative in every four spots on the new party's electoral list, as well as on the party bodies, and there will also be representation for Meretz's municipal factions.[14] Golan has said that the party aims to be a "broad home for the liberal-democratic public in Israel".[3] Golan will receive two seats in the top ten slots.[15] The representation agreement will only be in effect for the next election, after which the party's electoral slate and members of representative bodies will be chosen by party primaries. The agreement designated Labor Party leader Yair Golan as leader and chairman of the new party.[8]
Approval of the merger
A convention made up of delegates from both Labor and Meretz and also representatives of the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests approved the merger on 12 July 2024 in Tel Aviv.[16][17]
Under the agreement, Meretz and Labor continue as separate corporate and budgetary entities, and their factions in the Histadrut, municipal councils, and other bodies outside the Knesset will not merge at this stage, but will cooperate.[16]
