Likud Court Rejects David Bitan's Appeals Against Netanyahu Over Primary Rules

The Likud party's internal court dismissed key appeals filed by MK David Bitan challenging the primary election regulations and upheld the constitution committee's approved rules. The court ruled that the Likud chairman has sole authority to present the primary regulations to the party conference, rejecting Bitan's demand to vote on an alternative proposal or to exclude members of the "State Right" faction from voting.

The court's main opinion, delivered by Judge Yitzhak Bam, confirmed that the constitution committee completed its work and submitted the required regulations, denying requests to revert to the 2022 primary rules. However, due to the late publication of the regulations, the court ordered a delay in the voting to allow conference members sufficient time to review them. A significant unresolved issue, whether current or former Knesset members, ministers, and deputy ministers can run in specific districts, will be decided separately by the conference due to its impact on the party's future list structure.

Judge Bam also ruled that 100 central committee members added through the merger agreement with the "State Right" faction are eligible to vote, as they continue their membership under the agreement. However, two other judges, Yair Lachan and Michael Kleiner, dissented on two major points: they opposed allowing "State Right" members to vote, arguing the merger does not explicitly grant them delegate status, and they believed both competing regulation proposals should be presented to the conference for a vote, not just one.

The court further noted that the issue of reserved slots for the party leader in the primary list should be explicitly codified in the Likud constitution rather than only in the election regulations to avoid future legal disputes.