Likud MK Dudi Bitan petitions party court to block primaries cancellation

Likud MK Dudi Bitan filed a petition Sunday morning with the party court seeking to stop the cancellation of the party’s primaries and their replacement with a selection committee. His move is aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s initiative to change the candidate-selection process.

In the petition, Bitan argued that it is impossible to strip tens of thousands of party members of their right to choose their Knesset representatives just one month before the primaries. He said the plan would amount to changing the rules in the middle of the race.

Bitan also described the move as a constitutional “grab” that would harm Likud members’ rights to elect and be elected, in violation of the party charter and earlier decisions by the party court. He wrote that Likud “was and will remain a democratic movement,” adding, “I believe in Likud members and their right to decide, not in an appointed committee.”

Separately, the Likud spokesman is estimating that the primaries will take place on October 20. In related comments, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said, “If the primaries in Likud are fair, I will run.”