MK Yitzchak Mordechai's vote in favor of the Religious
Councils Law has caused a severe dispute in the centrist
party. Leftists in the party claim that the former Defense
Minister's vote along with his positive attitude toward
tradition, are liable to drive away potential voters to Barak
and the Labor party. This criticism was echoed by leaders of
the Reform movement in the United States, who also found
fault with Mordechai's manner of voting.
This tension in the centrist party because of its attitude to
issues of religion and state, was anticipated. Last week, the
leftists claimed that Mordechai's voting along with the
chareidim and the right was not the position of most of the
party. Those leftists noted that although Mordechai's
position is considered traditional, it will be impossible to
build a centrist party with someone who expresses such views
in public.
Centrist party members fear that Mordechai's positions will
result in a rift in the party, since they are the opposite of
those of Milo and other party leftists. This, they say, is
liable to cause leftists who until now have supported the
centrist party, to return to Labor.
Some in the centrist party say that prior to the voting,
Mordechai was asked to be absent from the vote, but in the
end he decided to appear. "We have no chance of getting the
support of the left if Mordechai espouses such positions,"
the centrists say.
They also said that surveys taken after Mordechai's joining
the centrist party do not indicate any differences in its
support from when it was headed by Shachak. "When Shachak was
in the first position and Mordechai or Meridor second, we had
the support of the left. However, now we have lost many
leftist votes, and there is no certainty that the chareidi
voters, with whom Mordechai voted, will compensate for the
lost leftist voices, despite Mordechai's vote," analysts in
the centrist party noted. They also predicted that the
chareidi community will vote for Netanyahu, and not for
Mordechai.
The dispute in the centrist party over issues of religion and
state will apparently continue during the drafting of the
final platform on these questions.
