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Likud backs Netanyahu proposal to advance leadership primary
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received the backing of his party’s key activists, who yesterday voted in favour of his proposal to bring forward a leadership primary and to combine it with elections for the Likud electoral list.
Voting at all 10 polling stations across the country supported Netanyahu’s proposal, which in the end passed by 1,567 to 835 votes. As a result, a primary for the Likud Party leadership will now take place on 31 December, having been originally scheduled for 6 January. At present, Netanyahu’s only declared challengers to head Likud are MKs Moshe Feiglin and Danny Danon. However, it is thought that former Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar is mulling his candidacy, which could pose a significant threat to Netanyahu’s position. Netanyahu’s suggestion to hold an early leadership vote has been interpreted as a tactic to complicate Sa’ar’s potential campaign. Commenting before voting yesterday, Sa’ar said “The attempt to change the rules in the middle of the game is not fair.”
Yesterday’s vote also means that the party’s primaries to determine its list of parliamentary candidates be held on the same day as the leadership vote. In addition, Netanyahu’s proposal allows him to personally select candidates to fill the 11th and 24th spots on the list of Knesset candidates.
In response to yesterday’s vote, Netanyahu said in a statement, “I thank Likud members for their clear and overwhelming support … This is an important step toward my victory in the upcoming general election as leader of Likud.”
MK Danny Danon, who also serves as Chairman of the Likud Central Committee said after the vote, “the Likud has spoken in the most democratic way. I’m proud of the democracy in the Likud, the biggest movement in Israel.”
In other election news, former-Likud Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon announced yesterday that his new party, which is expected to focus on socio-economic reform will be called Kulanu (“All of Us).