Last update - 00:00 27/09/2006
Meretz MK Vilan calls for his party to be merged with Labor
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent
MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) called for his party to merge with Labor in order to prevent its collapse in the next elections, according to an interview published Wednesday.
Vilan told the kibbutz movement periodical "Hadaf Hayarok" ("The Green Page"), "I believe that we're sitting on the voting threshold," referring to the minimal number of votes a party needs to win to receive a Knesset seat.
"If it's better to be right and alone, then it's better to write books and articles. That's not politics," he said.
"If Meretz wants to have influence and be part of the real political struggle, not just point direction, it has to play a much broader game. This game can be managed with the Labor party, which in its social and political stances has grown very close to those of Meretz," he added.
Vilan said an alliance with Labor would have to include MKs from Kadima, a party which, in his opinion, does not exist in practice.
Vilan also spoke about the paradox in which, in his view, most of the public shares the ideas of Meretz but votes for more right-wing parties and those he believes are tainted by corruption.
"The public says it's fed up [with corruption] but votes for crooked politicians every time, not for those who aren't involved in corruption because we're perceived as nerds and squares," Vilan said.
"Honest and decent is good and fine but in politics it's not a factor. The public doesn't see honesty and 'cleanliness' as characteristics politicians should portray," he said.