Will Likud Primaries Be Canceled? Netanyahu’s Move and the Real Goal Behind the Scenes

As elections approach, tensions in Likud are rising. In recent days, there has been increasing talk in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s circle about canceling the primaries and setting up a nominating committee instead. Behind the scenes, however, the intentions are very different, and Likud wants to significantly reshape the party list, seeing it as critical for the coming election.

In discussions surrounding the primaries, it has emerged that Netanyahu does not want a list of Knesset members who know how to win primaries, but mainly those who can draw crowds and also deliver results. One of the goals recently recorded in the party is the desire to target younger voters and speak to them through reserved slots. Netanyahu has said he wants to push the districts back and instead reserve places for new young candidates who will refresh the list. Such a move would also leave some of the names of district candidates he does not want in the next Knesset off the list.

In addition to the young candidates who would be reserved spots, Netanyahu’s office has also recently been banking on other figures, such as MK Almog Cohen, who is considered popular among young people, and Hadar Mukhtar, if she receives a shortened qualification period. Likud sources are convinced that Netanyahu is stepping up the briefings about a nominating committee in order to ease the opposition to his reserved slots. From his perspective, he wants 8 to 10 reserved spots in realistic positions, a move that is drawing strong opposition from sitting MKs who will have to fight harder battles for their seats in the next Knesset.

About a week and a half ago, the Likud secretariat convened, and there the chairman of the central committee, Chaim Katz, said he was waiting for clear decisions from Netanyahu, and if there were none, he would convene the central committee to decide. “The talk about a nominating committee is intended to legitimize the less bad option, from the perspective of Likud MKs, of 8 to 10 reserved spots,” said one MK. “The primaries are an inseparable part of Likud’s democratic process, and they are what distinguish the party from other parties where a democratic process does not exist. Canceling the primaries is a move that cannot happen.”