Eli Yishai is expected next week to present new names on the list of his Yachad-Ha'am Itanu party for the 20th Knesset, a senior source told Walla! News Sunday night.
Among the potential candidates are Rabbi Moshe Hager, a retired colonel and head of the Yatir pre-militarily yeshiva (Torah academy), according to the daily. Rabbi Hager is expected to be a "realistic representative" of Religious Zionism, the source said.
Other candidates include a spot reserved for an Orthodox representative on behalf of the Sephardic community from southern Israel. While said representative remains unnamed, the source added that this candidate is the head of a large community of yeshiva students, much of whom are from the Shas voting community.
Yishai's ambition is to include three hareidi candidates in his top five, which is also expected to include former Jewish Home MK Yoni Chetboun as his number two, and one other Religious-Zionist candidate.
"Orthodox figures should be such that they respect the soldiers in the IDF and Torah scholars alike," a party source added, noting that candidates from the "periphery" (i.e. the Negev and Galilee) would also hold weight on the list.
Meanwhile, despite rumors of a union between Eli Yishai and the Otzma Yehudit party - which could boost both parties past the Knesset threshold - that option is far away from reality.
According to sources close to Yishai, he fears that the move will chase away voters, as Otzma Yehudit head former MK Michael Ben-Ari and Baruch Marzel are expected to paint the joint list as "extreme."
"They were very pleased, we are less so," sources said of the prospect of a pact. "The scenario of a joint list is fading away from us."