Party lists register for the Knesset election

By the Thursday night deadline, 42 parties had registered their rosters for Israel’s April 9 general election, marking the formal onset of campaigning. There may be some latecomers. The new Blue-White party alliance was launched in Tel Aviv by its four leaders, Benny Gantz, Yair Lapid, Moshe Ya’alon and Gaby Ashkenazi. In televised speeches they called for national unity and presented themselves as the A-team for taking over government from Binyamin Netanyahu and curing the ills afflicting the nation. Netanyahu answered them on TV with a catalogue of his government’s achievements.
A new TV Channel 2 opinion poll predicted 36 seats for Blue-White and an unchanged 30 for Likud, with parity between the two blocs they lead.