Netanyahu’s New Demand Upsets Likud Primary Deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown the Likud’s internal battle into turmoil by setting a new condition for how the party will choose its Knesset slate for the next election. The Likud constitution committee is due to meet Sunday evening to decide whether the party will hold primaries or instead appoint a committee to set the list.

According to ynet, Netanyahu told prominent Likud local officials in private talks over the past 24 hours that he will agree to primaries only if he receives 11 personal reserved slots, or protected places, up to slot No. 20 on the list. That would give him direct control over more than half of the party’s realistic Knesset seats.

Until now, the accepted Likud practice had been a maximum of 10 reserved slots spread through the list up to No. 30. Netanyahu’s latest demand concentrates 11 protected places in the top 20, sharply reducing the chances for sitting lawmakers and district candidates. One influential local leader said angrily that if Netanyahu gets 11 reserved places by No. 20, it would amount to a way around the appointed committee. “In that case, there is almost no meaning to holding primaries,” he said, asking why thousands of activists and lawmakers should campaign nationwide if most realistic seats are predetermined.

The final decision on the voting system and the party’s democratic institutions is expected on Sunday at the committee meeting, which has already been postponed several times because of heavy pressure and Netanyahu’s earlier demands. With tensions in the faction at a peak, the party now appears headed for a decisive showdown.